26th November, 2013
Ajax gave their chances of qualifying for the Champions League last 16 a huge boost as they beat Barcelona 2-1 on Tuesday despite playing almost the entire second-half with 10 men.
Frist-half goals from Thulani Serero and Danny Hoessen had the hosts well in command at the break.
However, Barca were back in the game minutes after the restart as Joel Veltman was sent off for bringing down Neymar inside the area and Xavi converted the resulting spot-kick.
Barca then pressed for an equaliser, but failed to breakdown a stubborn Ajax backline as they slipped to a first defeat in any competition this season.
AC Milan’s 3-0 win away to Celtic in the other game in Group H means the Dutch side remain third, a point behind Milan, and will need to win in Italy when the two sides meet in two weeks’ time to progress.
Despite injuries to a series of key players, including Lionel Messi, and having already qualified for the knockout stages, Barca boss Gerardo Martino still named a strong side.
However, the Catalans were forced back from the off by a young Ajax side full of energy and quality on the ball.
Jose Manuel Pinto got down well to his left to save Viktor Fischer’s effort after 11 minutes, but there was nothing the stand-in ‘keeper could do to prevent Serero opening the scoring eight minutes later as he turned home Ricardo Van Rhijn’s low cross.
Barca should have been level six minutes later when Neymar was released through on goal by Pedro, but the Brazilian dragged his shot well off target.