The start of the fifth day of the Champions League league stage has delivered its verdict. Before the 9 p.m. matches, including an enticing OM-Newcastle and a crunching Chelsea-FC Barcelona, Ajax Amsterdam hosted Benfica. A duel of dunces between the last and the penultimate in the ranking, which turned in favor of Lisbon (0-2). At the same time, Union Saint-Gilloise sent a message to OM by beating Galatasaray (0-1).
It was the match not to be lost. The one of the very last chance. Between Ajax and Benfica, things were clear. Victory at all costs. And so it was the visitors who did well. The opening score was quick because in the sixth minute of play, Samuel Dahl found the fault (0-1). If Ajax had possession of the ball in this first act (61%), it was not dangerous enough and returned to the locker room with this late goal.
Same scenario in the second half and the locals who tried without being effective. As a result, they were punished at the very end of the match with another goal conceded, this time the work of Leandro Barreiro (0-2, 90th). This defeat leaves the Dutch club in the bottom place with zero points. Benfica pockets its first three points and temporarily climbs to twenty-eighth place.
OM, a Belgian trip more complicated than expected?
At the same time, the future opponent of Olympique de Marseille sent him a hell of a message. Traveling to Istanbul to face Galatasaray, Union Saint-Gilloise won to everyone’s surprise (0-1). It took just one goal from Promise David (57th) to validate the Belgian club’s second success in this European campaign. The USG finds itself provisionally eighteenth while its victim of the day is ninth.
OM has in any case been warned: their Belgian trip on December 9 may be much more complicated than expected. The Union Saint-Gilloise players were in any case full of confidence.
