Barcelona too strong for Ajax in friendly: 2-1
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2 (2)
- 1 (0)
Friendly
Martínez Valero Stadium, Elche,
Spain
Tuesday, 14 December, 2004
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It was a long, but memorable day for Ajax: many of the
players got up well before 6AM, drove to the ArenA and hopped
on the team bus to Schiphol Airport, only to find that their
flight to Spain was delayed by well over two hours. When the
plane finally touched down in Barcelona the Ajacieden were
joined by their colleagues of FC Barcelona for an
unusual joint flight to the coastal town of Alicante. Over
there the journey still wasn't over. The destination was the
nearby town of Elche, where the two sides were to play a
friendly fixture at the - for Dutch standards - unusually late
kick-off time of 21:30 CET. Quite an itinerary.
After such a long trip you might as well take the
confrontation seriously - and that's exactly what coaches Frank
Rijkaard and Ronald Koeman did. Rijkaard missed some of his
superstars due to injuries (Ronaldinho, Edmílson,
Larsson), but many others, including Xavi, Deco, Eto'o and the
only remaining Dutch Barça player, Giovanni van
Bronckhorst, played from the start. Koeman, meanwhile, left
Hatem Trabelsi behind in Amsterdam and rested Hans Vonk and
Ryan Babel, but fielded a side that definitely looked
like a serious Ajax starting line-up. It made the friendly
between two of the world's most famous clubs (who, somehow,
never met in official UEFA competition) a relatively
prestigious one.
The Ajax and Barcelona teams
share a bus at Alicante airport.
[Photo: Ajax.nl]
In practice, Barcelona vs Ajax was a real game for 45
minutes. The Spanish league leaders played at
their highest gear throughout the first half and - it
must be said - outclassed Ajax most of the time. Ajax had
hardly touched the ball when the first goal was scored. Iniesta
penetrated the penalty area, where the Ajax defense stood
around watching how Samuel Eto'o clinically converted the
low cross after precisely 62 seconds: 1-0.
Ajax had tremendous difficulty against Barcelona's three
forwards in the opening phase (Iniesta and Messi could have
made it 2-0 within 15 minutes) and were mostly chasing
shadows as the pride of Catalonia knocked the ball around
at a dazzling speed. In spite of the fact that Ajax looked
quite pathetic in this phase the Amsterdammers surprisingly had
three enormous chance to level the score including attempts
that hit the woodwork from Sneijder (cross-bar) and
Rosales (post), plus close range opportunities for Mitea and
Anastasiou.
Ajax undeniably should have equalized, but was - especially
in the latter 20 minutes of the first half - thoroughly
outplayed by a far superior side that did not seem to play in a
particular formation: every player seemed to show up
everywhere. Barça's second did not come as a
surprise, but what a stunningly brilliant strike it was: Xavi's
thru-ball reached Samuel Eto'o, who took it first-time for a
superb lob from 25 yards, straight into the upper ninety.
Maarten Stekelenburg was nailed to the ground.
2-0.
Tomas Galásek chases
Giovanni van Bronckhorst. [Photo: Photopro]
As lively and open the game was in the first half, as dull
and directionless it was in the second, mainly due to the
numerous substitutions by both coaches. Rijkaard granted many
youngsters from Barcelona's reserves side playing time. Koeman
did the same thing, bringing on three Young Ajax players who
already had friendly appearances for Ajax-1 (Maduro, Lindgren,
Emanuelson) and two youngsters who made their
unofficial first team débuts: Brazilian leftback
Filipe and the 17 year-old Armenian forward currently on a
try-out in Amsterdam: Edgar Manucharyan. Julien
Escudé, meanwhile, got to wear the captain's armband for
the first time in his Ajax career.
For Edgar Manucharyan it was a bizarre, but eventually quite
sad evening. His Ajax-1 début coincided
with the vote for 'Player Of The Year' in his
fatherland. He won it, having finished the season as the
topscorer of the Armenian league with 21 goals. His first
Ajax appearance, however, would only last 13 minutes.
Shortly after he had failed to score on a free passage to
goalkeeper Rubén, Manucharyan picked up a knock and had
to be carried into the dressing-room. X-rays will show if the
doctor's first diagnosis (a broken metatarsal) was correct or
not.
Both teams seemed to slow down in the second half, as their
unusual compositions made flashy football effectively
impossible. Nevertheless, both teams had chances to score:
Barcelona's substitute striker, Javito, had a one on one with
Stekelenburg, but saw the Ajax goalie save. At the other end
Ajax tested the woodwork for the third time: Rafaël van
der Vaart's stylish 67th minute free-kick bounced back from the
cross-bar. In the last minute good Van der Vaart work did bring
Ajax it's consolation goal: his fine cross from the left was
nodded into the top corner by Rasmus Lindgren: 2-1 (89').
A 2-1 defeat against Barcelona. It was a result Ajax could
live with. Friendlies don't mean much, and this one was no
exception, but the game did make clear that Barcelona are
currently living in a different universe than Ajax. They simply
are of a different caliber and play football Ajax simply can't
keep up with at this moment in time. "I do think it's very good
that we created four, five major chances against this team, a
team that is currently in top form," added Ronald Koeman - and,
okay: he had a point.
"It was special to play against Barcelona," Koeman said
after the game. "It's a great club and I've had several great
years there."
The same goes, albeit in on a more modest level, for FC
Groningen, the club where Koeman started his career as a
professional. Ajax will play their
last Eredivisie game of 2004 against them on
Sunday. (MP)
UPDATE 15 December: An X-ray scan made at
Amsterdam's V.U. Hospital today showed that Edgar
Manucharyan has, indeed, broken a metatarsal in his right
foot. The 17 year-old Armenian 'Player of the Year'
will be sidelined for some three months. He will be
treated by Ajax's medical staff until the winter
break. During the winter break Ajax will decide whether
Manucharyan will be landed permanently or
not.
GOALS
- 02' 1-0 Samuel Eto'o
- 30' 2-0 Samuel Eto'o
- 89' 2-1 Rasmus Lindgren
Referee: Lizondo Cortés
(Spain)
Yellow cards: Navarro, Rodri (FC
Barcelona), Boukhari (Ajax)
Attendance: 9,000 (TV commentator's
estimation)
Ajax line-up: Stekelenburg; Obodai, De
Jong (72. Maduro), Escudé, Maxwell (45. Filipe);
Sneijder (45. Manucharyan [59. Lindgren]), Galásek (72.
Emanuelson), Van der Vaart; Rosales (45. De Ridder),
Anastasiou, Mitea (45. Boukhari).
FC Barcelona line-up: Valdés
(45. Rubén); Damià (45. Oleguer), Puyol, Navarro,
Sylvinho (69. Riera); Xavi (45. Peña), Deco (69.
Javito), Gio (45. Fragoso); Iniesta (45. Rodri), Eto'o (45.
Cristian), Messi.
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