For Ryan Gravenberch the match against Sparta Rotterdam was a special affair. The nineteen year-old midfielder played his one hundredth official match on behalf of Amsterdam. Thanks to this special milestone, he has now joined an illustrious group of Ajax players.
Fantastic show of support
Before the match, Ajax and Sparta showed their support for Louis van Gaal, who is ill. When they came out the players from both teams wore a fantastic shirt to demonstrate their support for the successful former Ajax coach. Van Gaal saw that the Amsterdam team had some difficulty to find chances in Sparta's defenses in the early stages of the match.
After half an hour of play, Nico Tagliafico was forced to leave the pitch after sustaining an ankle injury. A few minutes later Ajax went one-nil down at home. After a poor kick from Andre Onana and laborious defending from Edson Álvarez, Joeri de Kamps fired the ball behind the Camerounian goalkeeper via the underside of the bar and into the goal. The Amsterdam team was unable to repair the damage before half time.
Equalizer
Ajax came out of the dressing room strongly, with Klaassen equalising a couple of minutes after half time. At the instruction of Tadic, the Ajax player found the back of the net and the comeback was set. After drawing level at 1-1, Ajax ramped up the pressure on the Sparta goal.
Tadic contacted the arm of Auassar from a direct free kick, who was standing in his own penalty area at the time. This resulted in a penalty kick for Ajax. Tadic capitalised on this chance to bring Ajax into the lead: 2-1.
Ajax – Sparta Rotterdam 2-1 (0-1)
33. De Kamps 0-1
49. Klaassen 1-1
61. Tadic 2-1
Ajax: Onana; Mazraoui, Timber, Blind, Tagliafico (30. Taylor); Álvarez, Gravenberch, Klaassen (89. Kudus); Berghuis, Haller (80. Brobbey), Tadic.
