Ajax needed 34 penalties to advance to the next round
2 min read
The Dutch side Ajax Amsterdam advanced to the next round of the UEFA Europe Championship after penalty shoot-out. Ajax won after kicking 34 penalties to defeat Panathinaikos 13-12 in a history shootout on Thursday, during their Europa League third round of qualifier where match ended 1-1 over two legs and even extra time.
During first lag Ajax defeated Panathinaikos 1-0 last week, then yesterday they conceded on 89th minute in Amsterdam and the match was forced to be decided by penalty shootout that cancelled the last record of 32 attempts at the European U-21 Championship semi-final in 2007 where Netherlands beat England 13-12.
The last time we saw the longest shootout was back in May 2024 between Israeli third-tier clubs SC Dimona and Shimshon Tel Aviv kicked 56 penalties to have a winner of semi-final promotion playoff.
Dimona won the shootout 23-22 after each side took 28 penalties in the city of Dimona in the Negev desert on Monday.
Ajax shot stopper Remko Pasveer saved five penalties and went on to score his penalty to help home side to win the shootout after his team mate Brian Brobbey missed two penalties.
After the Penalty shoot-out the Ajax Amsterdam keeper highlighted that it’s not easy for him to save more than 3 penalties.
Pasveer said “Five is quite a lot, yes. I save a penalty every now and then, but I don’t think you often experience something as crazy as this.
“Every time I thought we would do it. Brobbey behind the ball, we will do it. But he missed, while he always scores during training.”
Defender Anton Gaaei made sure that his teammateare no longer going to kick other penalty as he scored a winning penalty spot. The Eredivisie club will now face Polish side Jagiellonia Bialystok in the playoff round later this month.
BY LUCKY SEANEGO
