Amsterdam football club Ajax are through to the play-offs for a place in the Europa League competition after a roller-coaster match that ended in a 13-12 win on penalties.
Ajax won the first away leg against Panathinaikos 0-1, and the Greek side scored in the 89th minute of the return leg in Amsterdam. The 30 minutes of extra time failed to produce any goals, forcing a move to penalties β and 34 were needed to decide the game.
Ajax keeper Remko Pasveer was branded an βabsolute heroβ for his role, after making several saves during the match, stopping five penalties and scoring his own when it was time.
The winning penalty in the nail-biting finish was scored by Anton Gaaei.
Coach Francesco Farioli said after the match that the game had been very positive and described the clubβs supporters as βincredibleβ. While practicising penalties, he said, it is βimpossible to recreate the emotion and the contextβ of the real thing. βIt is a mental gameβ.
Ajax will next play Polish league champion Jagiellonia Bialystok for a place in the Europa League group stage.