Ajax Legends lose to FC Barcelona Legends in 11-goal thriller
Ajax Legends lost 4-7 to FC Barcelona Legends at the Johan Cruyff ArenA on Sunday. The friendly honoured the legacy of Johan Cruyff, who had a rich history as a player and coach at both clubs.
Rafael van der Vaart, Wesley Sneijder, Edwin van der Sar, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Jari Litmanen and Patrick Kluivert were among those who played for Ajax. Javier Saviola, Éric Abidal, Ruud Hesp and Ludovic Giuly featured for Barcelona. Litmanen and Kluivert, among others, also spent time playing for the visitors.
Ajax took an early lead when Kluivert dinked home after a clever dummy by Ronald de Boer. Aleix Vidal hit back to equalise for the Catalans.
Roger García, Ajax's last ever number 14, then put Barcelona 1-2 ahead. Saviola made it 1-3 after Frank de Boer made a mistake playing out from the back. Barcelona dominated, and Nolito made it 1-4 at the ArenA.
Huntelaar headed in to make it 2-4, but Nolito replied to make it 2-5. After good build-up play by Van der Vaart, Huntelaar struck again to make it 3-5 at half-time.
Ajax started the second half strongly, but Ryan Babel and Derk Boerrigter failed to score from promising positions. Siem de Jong made it 4-5 after a scramble. Boerrigter then had a chance to make it 5-5, only for Barcelona goalkeeper Jesús Mariano Angoy to deny him.
Barcelona pulled away in the closing stages as Saviola made it 4-6 and Cristian Tello made it 4-7. Further substitutions followed in the final minutes, but the score stayed the same. The final whistle came after 84 minutes of play.
Ajax Legends line-up (first half): Van der Sar; Winter (Van Rhijn 23'), Vertonghen, F. De Boer (Tahamata 22'), Rob Witschge (Emanuelson 23'); Schöne, Sneijder (Dani 34'), Litmanen (Van der Vaart 34'); R. de Boer (Maduro 34'), Kluivert (Huntelaar 34'), Richard Witschge (Babel 23')
Second-half Ajax Legends line-up: Van der Sar; Van Rhijn, Maduro, Vertonghen, Emanuelson; Schöne (Enoh 50'), Dani (De Jong 47'), Van der Vaart; Tahamata (Boerrigter 47'), Huntelaar (Mido 47'), Babel
FC Barcelona Legends line-up (first half): Angoy; Vidal, Valiente, Abidal, Barjuán (Montoya 29'); Trashorras, García, Giuly; Saviola, Krkic, Nolito
Second-half FC Barcelona Legends line-up: Hesp (Angoy 49'); Vidal, F. De Boer, Abidal, Montoya; Trashorras, Witschge, R. de Boer; Tello, Kluivert, Nolito.
