Amsterdam, March 16 (BUS): Ajax’s brilliant campaign in the Champions League came to an abrupt end due to their inability to win at home again.
Ajax couldn’t stop a 26-year streak at home in the knockout rounds of the European competition, losing 1-0 to Benfica to waste a perfect campaign in the group stage, The Associated Press reported.
Darwin Nunez scored late and reached the quarter-finals for Benfica for the first time in six years. Nunez found the net with a header in the 77th minute from a free kick from the right side to help Benfica reach the quarter-finals for the fifth time.
The teams tied 2-2 in the first leg in Portugal.
Ajax coach Eric Ten Hag said he was “hoping for a moment of magic” at the end, but that never happened.
“Our positional play was excellent,” he said. “We were very good at handling the ball. I complimented my players. Maybe he just lacked creativity. So it is bittersweet that one moment of inattention means you are eliminated.”
Ajax was one of three teams to win all six group stage matches, along with Liverpool and Bayern. The Dutch club were in the last 16 for the second time since 2006, despite reaching the semi-finals the last time they got this far three seasons ago. He has not won any of his home matches in the knockout stage either, with his last victory over Borussia Dortmund in the 1996 quarter-finals.
Ajax had already equaled their most Champions League season with 22 goals but struggled to cash in on their chances despite their dominance of Amsterdam. He scored 16 attempts against 4 by the guests, which focused on good defense from the start.
Striker Sebastian Haller, the first player to score in his first seven Champions League matches and the fastest to reach 11 goals in the competition’s history, had his goal ruled out for offside early in the game.
“If we defend well, we know that in attack we have great players who can find space to score at any time,” said Benfica defender Nicolas Otamendi. “We knew we couldn’t give any chance to a team like Ajax.”
Double European champions Benfica, who started their campaign this year in the third round of qualifying, were eliminated by Bayern Munich in the 2016 quarter-finals.
The win extended Benfica’s unbeaten streak in all competitions to eight matches, even though they were held 1-1 at home to Vizilla in the Portuguese league on Friday.
In the other round of 16 match on Tuesday, Atlético Madrid advanced 2-1 on aggregate after beating Manchester United 1-0 in England.