Weghorst scores as Ajax down 9-man Qarabag and go top of Europa League standings
Before the match, a tifo referenced Qarabag’s route ‘from the ghost’s town to Europe’. The Tofiq Bahramov Stadium was anything but a ghost town when Elvin Jafarguliyev cut the ball back for Leandro Andrade to finish inside three minutes, although the celebrations were muted due to an offside call.
The Atlılar continued to show intent despite that setback but were caught out for an even bigger one on the quarter-hour mark, as Julio Romao failed to deal with a long ball forward and cynically pulled down Mika Godts near the halfway line, with the lack of cover condemning him to a red card.
In a fiercely competitive contest, Godts continued to be Ajax’s main threat as the winger lured Abbas Huseynov into the game’s third yellow card in seven minutes, but even his effort was routinely gathered by Mateusz Kochalski.
De Godenzonen eventually made the breakthrough in the 36th minute with a move started and finished by Kenneth Taylor.
He initially dispossessed Marko Jankovic and Godts roamed forward before offloading the ball to Wout Weghorst, whose shot was deflected towards Taylor for the midfielder to calmly convert at the back post.
Ajax had a big opportunity within two minutes of the restart but Weghorst fired straight at Kochalski, and Christian Rasmussen’s follow-up was unconvincing.
Qarabag continued to show belief with Yassine Benzia hitting a shot from range that was saved by Remko Pasveer, before Juninho slid a ball through for an Andrade opening that was authoritatively closed by Josip Sutalo.
They had also defended valiantly to ensure that it was difficult for de Godenzonen to create.
However, Kevin Medina’s overzealous shoulder on Rasmussen conceded a penalty that Weghorst clinically scored for the fourth goal in his last three appearances – even with the previous two coming from the bench.
Just three minutes later, Chuba Akpom added some gloss to the scoreline by playing a one-two with Godts and placing his shot out of Kochalski’s reach, as Ajax went a 10th consecutive match unbeaten across all competitions – a run that includes picking up seven UEL points.
In contrast, Qarabag have lost all three of their UEL league phase matches and their night unravelled further when Jafarguliyev received his second yellow for a late challenge on Anton Gaaei.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Mika Godts (AFC Ajax)
