LONDON: Four-time European champions Ajax Amsterdam were knocked out of the Champions League in the third qualifying round on Tuesday after a dramatic 3-2 defeat at home to unsung Rapid Vienna as Monaco advanced with a 4-0 win over Swiss side Young Boys.

Ajax, with a 2-2 draw in the bag from the first leg in Vienna, trailed 2-0 at half-time, then hit back to equalise only for Rapid to score again almost immediately to complete a 5-4 aggregate win.

Monaco, who beat Young Boys 7-1 on aggregate, Dinamo Zagreb and APOEL Nicosia also progressed to the playoff round after Tuesday’s second leg ties.

Ajax were strong favourites to progress to the play-off round, but they suffered a torturous night at the Amsterdam Arena.

Frank de Boer’s men let a two-goal lead slip at the Ersnt-Happel Stadion last week and the visitors — seemingly buoyed by that comeback — started where they left off last week.

Slovenian international Robert Beric — the scorer of Rapid’s equaliser in the first leg — headed in from Stefan Stangl’s cross to put Rapid ahead in the 12th minute after Ajax lost possession outside the area and Louis Schaub increased their lead six minutes before halftime.

Ajax, fielding a starting line-up with an average age of under 21, pulled one back when Polish international Arkadiusz Milik volleyed home seven minutes into the second half.

Serbian midfielder Nemanja Gudelj equalised with a controversial goal in the 75th minute, firing home from the edge of the area as Rapid — who last reached the Champions League group stages in the 2005/06 season — complained that goalkeeper Jan Novota had been fouled in the build-up.

But their protests turned to celebrations two minutes later when 20-year-old Schaub burst forward, held off three defenders and sent his shot into the top corner to stun the Amsterdam Arena.

Monaco, quarter-finalists last season, produced a second-half blitz as Ivan Cavaleiro, Layvin Kurzawa, Anthony Martial and Stephan El Shaarawy scored in a 23-minute spell.

The Ligue 1 side — who reached the 2004 final where they were beaten by Portuguese giants Porto — were already 3-1 up from last week’s first leg in Bern and finished the job handsomely at the Stade Louis II.

“I liked our performance. We managed to put our game plan into practice - to contain the opposition at first, then counter-attack after we scored the first goal,” said Monaco boss Leonardo Jardim.

“We took control of the game. The first half was very good from a strategic perspective. Our goal was to not concede before half-time and force our opponent to attack. That’s exactly what happened.”

Young Boys, who were semi-finalists of the European Cup back in 1958/59, retained some hope of getting back into the tie with the second leg goalless at half-time.

But Cavaleiro — a big-money summer arrival from Portuguese champions Benfica — curled in a superb opener after 54 minutes before further goals from Kurzawa, Martial and another new signing El Shaarawy saw Monaco run riot.

Croatian champions Dinamo Zagreb survived a thrilling comeback by Norwegian side Molde to progress on away goals after squandering a three-goal lead.

With the tie level after a 1-1 draw in Zagreb last week, the visitors looked to be out of sight after scoring three goals in the opening 22 minutes at the Molde Stadion with Marko Pjaca, Arijen Ademi and Marko Rog scoring in a devastating five-minute spell.

The Norwegian champions — who missed two penalties and had Vegard Forren sent off — hit back with Etzaz Hussain and Mohamed Elyounoussi scoring either side of halftime before Ola Kamara levelled to set up a dramatic finale.

The Croatians survived to go through on away goals after a 4-4 aggregate draw.

APOEL, the only Cypriot team to have reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League, which they achieved in 2012, also went through on away goals despite losing 1-0 at home to FC Midtjylland.

Erik Sviatchenko scored in the second minute for the Danes who were eliminated following a 2-2 draw on aggregate as APOEL remain on course for a second successive appearance in the group stages.

Published in Dawn, August 6th, 2015

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