“Once In Control, Now In Chaos”: Ajax Bottling At Its Finest

4 Min Read
Ajax Bottling At Its Finest

Prior to Wednesday’s crucial encounter with Groningen, Francesco Farioli’s Ajax has had their nine-point lead reduced to just one.

In football, it’s frequently asserted that winning is all that counts, with the implication being that the runners-up are forgotten. Of course, it’s just not true.

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The club that threw away the championship, rather than the one that won it, can sometimes tell the story of a season. Kevin Keegan’s Newcastle will be the first team that comes to mind when someone asks about the 1995-96 Premier League season. 

Ronaldo crying at the Stadio Olimpico as Inter gave Juventus the Scudetto

Meanwhile, Ronaldo crying at the Stadio Olimpico as Inter gave Juventus the Scudetto is the most memorable image of the 2001-02 Serie A title battle.

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Furthermore, who could overlook Steven Gerrard’s notorious slip at Anfield ten years later or Real Madrid’s Galacticos dropping from first to fourth place in La Liga after losing six of their final seven games in 2003-04?

However, if Botafogo hadn’t won the league and the Copa Libertadores last year, they would never have recovered from their catastrophic Brasileiro failure in 2023. Prior to the arrival of Xabi Alonso, Bayer Leverkusen was referred to as “Neverlusen” since they had come to represent failure at the last hurdle.

Francesco Farioli’s Ajax team could end up on the list of football’s largest bottle-jobs

Given that Francesco Farioli’s team could end up on the list of football’s largest bottle-jobs, there is a very real chance that Ajax’s 2024–25 season will be remembered for all the wrong reasons.

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Ajax

After Ajax defeated PSV 2-0 on March 30, all of the players were beaming with pride

After Ajax defeated PSV 2-0 on March 30, all of the players were beaming with pride, and with good reason. With seven games left, their victory in Eindhoven had put them nine points ahead of their rivals in second place at the top of the Eredivisie rankings.

That seemed like an insurmountable lead, especially for a squad that had gone 12 games without losing in the league.

Ajax now have just a one-point advantage going into Wednesday’s trip

Ajax now have just a one-point advantage going into Wednesday’s trip to Groningen and victory is imperative, given PSV should have little trouble winning their home game against Heracles, which kicks-off at the same time. There’s also the fact that Ajax must face fifth-placed Twente in their final fixture on Sunday, while PSV have a far more winnable game away to Sparta Rotterdam (even if the latter have done well in the second half of the season).

"Once In Control, Now In Chaos": Ajax Bottling At Its Finest
Once In Control, Now In Chaos Ajax Bottling At Its Finest

This bottle job is yet to be finalised but if PSV manage to win the Dutch league this season, it might be one of the biggest bottle-jobs by fellow rivals Ajax.