Following the international fixture, manager Alfred Schreuder had high hopes for his team. He wanted to see a dominant Ajax who could brush off the slip-up against AZ in the previous round. Strangely enough, they were top of the league at kick-off. PSV had lost 3-0 to SC Cambuur earlier in the evening. But instead of playing that to its full advantage, Ajax had to make do with 1-1.
Schreuder made some changes to his starting line-up just before the game. Florian Grillitsch and Lucas Ocampos, for instance, were starters for the first time. Brian Brobbey and Davy Klaassen were also on for the kick-off. Steven Bergwijn, Steven Berghuis, Mohammed Kudus and Edson Álvarez started on the bench against Go Ahead Eagles.
Ajax made it 1-0 during first-half injury time. With who else but Davy Klaassen scoring the opening goal. This gave them no room to breathe in the second half, however. The home team of course tried to double their score as soon as possible, but failed to do so despite having control of the game. So things stayed risky. Willumsson showed just how risky twelve minutes before full time. His goal turned out to be no consolation prize, but the equaliser and therefore good for a point.
Ajax – Go Ahead Eagles 1-1 (1-0)
45. Klaassen 1-0
78. Willumsson 1-1
Ajax: Pasveer; Rensch , Timber (81. Lucca), Bassey, Blind; Klaassen (82. Berghuis), Grillitsch (63. Álvarez), Taylor; Ocampos (63. Bergwijn), Brobbey (81. Kudus), Tadic
