Juventus vs Ajax result: Giant-killers turn history on its head to knock out Cristiano Ronaldo’s Italian champions

Juventus 1-2 Ajax (2-3): David only killed one Goliath, Ajax have now done it twice.

Ajax have now turned football on its head twice. And if you would bet against them doing it a third time next month and a fourth time in June then you should start paying attention.

This is the greatest story in the modern history of the Champions League because it is entirely at odds with every other page of it. This is a proud historic club but a financially powerless one . David only killed one Goliath, Ajax have now killed two in six weeks.

Last month they beat triple champions Real Madrid 4-1 at the Bernabeu, a result applauded all over Europe in part because it felt like watching Halley’s Comet, seeing a poor team outclass a rich team that comprehensively. But tonight in Turin, Ajax produced their second once-in-a-lifetime game, beating Juventus 2-1. They should have won by far more given how they dominated the second half, playing football their richer opponents did not even dare, cutting through Juventus with every attack. But it did not matter, 3-2 over two legs was no real reflection but it was more than enough.

For those at Ajax who told The Independent that they saw this tie as a chance for “revenge” for losing the 1996 final to a Juventus side accused of blood doping, this could hardly have been sweeter. Because Ajax are now in the semi-finals for the first time since 1997, back when they could still compete with sides like Juventus as equals, not financial inferiors. They could easily beat Tottenham or Manchester City over two legs in they play like this, and they could win the Madrid final on 1 June too.

But regardless of whether Ajax go on to repeat what they last did in 1995 with that legendary team, or even whether they close out the Dutch league or Dutch cup, they have already done something far more important than simply winning a football competition. They have proved a point, and now proved it again.

Johan Cruyff famously once said Ajax should believe that they can always beat richer clubs, because after all he had never seen a bag of money score a goal. It was classic Cruyff word-play, flippant, unrealistic, and at odds with every development in football for 30 years. But it was also inspirational, and this Ajax team have now lived up to that inspiration twice.

Ajax’s wage bill is less than the richer Championship clubs, or Celtic, but they have turned that into a source of strength this year. They have a team of academy products and clever buys who are actually better than the big boys. Not because the individuals are brilliant – although they are – but because Ajax know that football is about being more than just a sum of your parts. It is about being a team. That is how they took points from Bayern Munich, how they did the unthinkable to Real Madrid and now the same to Juventus, the club who paid Real £88million for Ronaldo in the summer.

Ronaldo gives Juventus a short-lived lead (AFP/Getty) (AFP/Getty Images)

Ronaldo is the greatest individualist in the game and he scored here, as he always does in the quarter-finals, giving Juventus a 2-1 aggregate lead. But he is no substitute for identity, coherence, team-work or belief. His two headers, one in each leg, were very good but they were also the full extent of Juventus’ attacking play over 180 minutes of football. And after his goal tonight Juventus did nothing else at all, as Ajax seized control and never gave it back. Donny van de Beek equalised, Matthijs de Ligt headed the winner, and Ajax missed plenty of chances in a second half that was just as good as their one in the Bernabeu. In the end they dominated both legs and 3-2, in a tie where Juventus had two chances, barely scratches the surface.

But Juventus begun with all of the force of a team desperate to crush an opponent who had gotten a little bit too big for their boots. They pressed Ajax all over the pitch, smacking into every tackle, never letting them settle into the passing rhythm they found in Amsterdam. Even Frenkie de Jong, the brilliant orchestrator last Wednesday, was effectively squeezed out of the game for the first 20 minutes.

But ultimately this spell of frantic pressure counted for nothing, because Juventus had nothing to back it up. No creativity, no imagination, no real skill. And after weathering the storm, Ajax started to play the better football, just as they did last week, getting a foothold in the Juventus half. Donny van de Beek missed a half-chance from close range and the match seemed to be turning their way.

Ajax’s players celebrate a historic victory (Reuters)

It was still Juventus who took the lead, Ronaldo heading in a Pjanic corner after finding himself free in the box. So free, in fact, that there was a VAR enquiry to find out why Joel Veltman was on the ground, which only showed that Matthijs De Ligt had pushed him from behind. Ronaldo only needs the slightest error to pounce.

And yet despite that, and the feeling that Juventus might try to shut the game down, it only took six minutes for Ajax to equalise. When Hakim Ziyech scuffed a shot from distance, it fell to Van de Beek who looked offside but was played on by Federico Bernadeschi. The Juve defence stopped, Van de Beek carried on and slotted the ball past Wojciech Szczesny. A scrappy goal but quite in keeping with the first half.

At 1-1 the second half was there to be seized and there was an expectation Juventus would come out hard. But instead they walked straight into an Ajax flurry that floored them. This was even better than how Ajax started the second half last week. This was the Ajax that did for Real Madrid, brave, inventive and precise. Both full backs up, De Jong in charge, Tadic dropping deep with runners beyond him. Black shirts moving in fast harmony leaving the defenders frozen on the pitch.

De Ligt celebrates scoring the winner (Getty)

Van de Beek played in Ziyech who tried to lift it over Szczesny, who stopped him with a high hand. Van de Beek tried to curl one in the top corner and Szczesny tipped it over. Tadic raced in behind and played a low cross, which Pjanic stretched to cut out before Van de Beek could turn it in. Tadic found Ziyech in behind who crossed when he should have shot.

So there had been 20 minutes of this, of daring dominant football, when De Ligt scored the header heard round the world. It was conventional move: Lasse Schone’s outswining corner, De Ligt’s big leap and strong neck, thumping the ball into the corner. Unlike the first-half goals, this one was entirely with the run of play, the result of Ajax giving such a chasing they did not even know where to look.

Now Ajax were 2-1 up and Juventus had 20 minutes to score twice. They put balls into the box but with so many men forward they left more space at the back. Neres should have ended the game from close range, Ziyech curled one in but it was disallowed for offside. Ajax looked for a second as if they might worry they had failed to kill of Juventus but they need not have worried. This Goliath was just as dead as the last one.