Ajax got off to a very strong start after a solemn one minute's silence. A moment of silence was observed in remembrance of Ruud Geels. The top striker passed away last Saturday at the age of 75. After little more than 120 seconds of play, Eloy Room's net saw the score go to 1-0. Jorrel Hato, pushing deep forward, got into some one-two play with Steven Bergwijn and, after getting the ball back again, neatly dropped the opening goal into the net. After a brief VAR check, the seventeen-year-old defender shot his arms into the air.
No equaliser
Not long after, the VAR took some time before disallowing a goal from Hamulic. The Vitesse player lobbed a magnificent shot over Diant Ramaj, but the flag went up. With the VAR not ultimately able to determine whether he was actually offside or not, the ref relied on the linesman's flag. Which left it at 1-0.
With Vitesse still licking their wounds after the disallowed equaliser, Hlynsson scored again for Ajax: 2-0. The architect responsible for that goal was actually Benjamin Tahirović. He found Kenneth Taylor with a loose shot. The midfielder used his chest to clear the ball for Hlynsson. The Icelander then tucked it away neatly to make it 2-0.
The second half was barely underway when Steven Berghuis pushed the ball deep into the penalty area. After a cross from Taylor, Akpom appeared to make it 3-0. However, the replay showed that in fact Oroz tapped the ball past his own goalkeeper.
Five big ones
Akpom got his name on the scoreboard soon after, though. The Englishman has now scored in four consecutive Eredivisie matches. The striker headed it into the net from a corner. Room tried to knock tap his effort back out of the goal, but failed to prevent the ball from crossing the line.
Kenneth Taylor made the Amsterdam celebrations complete just over an hour into the match. Steven Berghuis handed the ball on a plate to the Ajax midfielder, who appeared to shoot it into the far corner. Instead, he dragged the ball back and sent two Vitesse players into the posts. It was then a mere formality for the Ajax number 8 to take it to 5-0. And that's how it stayed at the Johan Cruyff ArenA.
Ajax – Vitesse 5-0 (2-0)
03. Hato 1-0
13. Hlynsson 2-0
50. Oroz (o.g.) 3-0
58. Akpom 4-0
66. Taylor 5-0
Ajax: Ramaj; Gaaei, Rensch, Hato, Martha; Tahirović (75. Medić) , Taylor (85. Salah-Eddine), Hlynsson (68. Forbs); Berghuis (75. Godts), Akpom (68. Mikautadze), Bergwijn
