“We went 1–0 down after just a few minutes. Defensively, we didn’t give much away, but on the ball, our positioning wasn’t always great. When we lost possession, they were through with just two passes. We improved that a lot in the second half.”
After a 1–1 half-time score in Limburg, Ajax made the difference after the break. The pattern of play also looked much better for the Amsterdam side in the period just after half-time. “That doesn’t happen overnight. You have to take steps in that,” Klaassen said honestly. “Of course, you want that to happen as quickly as possible. But some matches go better than others. And then you still simply have to win.”
After an hour of play, Ajax were 1–3 up and had a numerical advantage. After the second yellow card for Youri Baas, Fortuna Sittard briefly seemed to improve, but the win was never really in danger. “After that red card, it was mostly long balls forward. It became a back-and-forth game.”
