AMSTERDAM—Brian Brobbey scored one goal and set up two more as Ajax eased to a 5-0 victory over Maccabi Tel-Aviv in the Europa League on Thursday.
Francesco Farioli decided to rest Jordan Henderson and Wout Weghorst for the clash with Branco van den Boomen and Brian Brobbey coming into the eleven. In the 14th minute, Ajax had the opener with Brobbey setting up Bertrand Traore to net. Maccabi Tel Aviv then equalised but VAR intervened to rule out Daniele Rugani’s own goal for an offside.
After a fantastic move, Brobbey set up Kenneth Taylor to fire Ajax 2-0 up before Mika Godts swiftly added a third.
After an hour, Ajax were awarded an indirect free kick in the box and Brobbey smashed the ball into the top corner to make it 4-0 to celebrate the end to his 12-game scoring drought. Kian Fitz-Jim then completed the scoring.
Christian Rasmussen did have the ball in the net again for Ajax but his effort was ruled out for a slender offside.
Ajax currently sits second in the Europa League rankings with ten points from twelve.
Elsewhere, AZ Alkmaar secured a 3-1 victory over Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce.
Maarten Martens handed first European starts to winger Jayden Addai and midfielder Dave Kwakman due to an injury crisis at the club. Fenerbahce had the better of the first half with Edin Dzeko testing Rome-Jayden Owusu-Oduru while Allan Saint-Maximin wasted a good opportunity.
At the break, Martens handed a debut to 20-year-old winger Ro-Zangelo Daal and he had a dream debut as he tapped in a Troy Parrott from close range. Fenerbahce were then awarded a penalty but a poor spot-kick from Youssef En-Nesyri was kept out by Owusu-Oduro. However, shortly afterward, En-Nesyri headed in to equaliser.
Kees Smit was introduced from the bench and the 18-year-old midfielder restored AZ’s lead with a fine goal. After a backheel by Sven Mijnans, Smit burst into the box before taking the ball past his opponent and stroking it into the net.
Smit then played a sensational through ball to set up Denso Kasius, who wrapped up the victory with AZ’s third goal. An excellent win for AZ Alkmaar and they are now 17th in the table.
Fellow Dutch side FC Twente threw away a 2-0 lead as they drew 2-2 at OGC Nice.
Twente had drawn two and lost one of their three games going into the clash in France which meant they needed to pick up a victory to put them into the playoff spots. It started perfectly for Twente as Daan Rots fired the injury-hit Tukkers into a lead in the eighth minute.
From that point, Twente dominated the first half but they failed to find a second goal. At the other end, Przemyslaw Tyton only had to make one save.
Sam Lammers went close early in the second half while Michel Vlap struck the post. Eventually, the second goal did come for Twente as Lammers beat his opponent in the box before finishing.
Jérémie Boga quickly made it 2-1 with a great strike but it seemed OGC Nice’s hopes of a comeback were dashed when Sofiane Diop saw red for a reckless challenge on Youri Regeer. However, Twente lost their control and that led to Mohamed-Ali Cho equalising in the 88th minute. Bart van Rooij was then sent off for a second yellow card.
Twente move onto three points but need to pick up some wins in the upcoming games if they are going to reach the playoffs.
