There is quite simply nothing that prepares you for a football game so utterly bewildering and dramatic as the one that took place at Stamford Bridge tonight.
The fact that Chelsea came back from three goals down to rescue a draw and yet the result is still tinged with disappointment tells you all you need to know about what unfolded over the course of 90 engrossing minutes of football.
Free-kicks were in plentiful demand for Ajax as Cesar Azpilicueta and Marcos Alonso endeavoured to showcase the sort of form that had previously called for their imminent departures from the club. The first such dead ball was whipped into a dangerous area where Tammy Abraham swiped aimlessly to divert it beyond Kepa Arrizabalaga. Chelsea responded through a cooly taken Jorginho penalty but soon found themselves behind once more as Hakim Ziyech found the run of Quincy Promes who headed Ajax back into the lead – a carbon copy of the goal that was ruled out in Amsterdam. Ziyech then got himself on the scoresheet with a curling free-kick which cannoned back off of Kepa for another own goal.
Ajax thought they’d put the result beyond any doubt when Donny van de Beek found space in the box to rifle in a fourth goal for the Dutch champions. But this was only to signal the start of one of the most remarkable comebacks in Champions League history. Azpilicueta slid in at the far post to draw one back before Chelsea were handed the most unlikely of lifelines when Ajax saw the dismissal of both Daley Blind and Joel Veltman for second bookable offences. In the midst of this, a penalty was also awarded to the Blues for handball by Veltman, and Jorginho once again stepped up to place the ball beyond Andre Onana.
Just minutes after Jorginho’s penalty, Reece James hammered home a loose ball in the area to send then Bridge into delirium whilst Erik Ten Haag and his men stood in sheer disbelief. It could’ve got even worse for Ajax had Azpilicueta’s effort not been ruled out for an Abraham handball in the build-up.
A staggering game that will live long in the memory, the ratings today will sadly be built upon what was, in essence, an imperfect performance littered with mistakes, particularly in the first-half.
