Shot! Brighton vs Ajax
On an historic night at the Amex, Albion swept aside Holland’s top team to record their first ever victory in Europe
Another sold out game for the Albion, another momentous European night at the Amex. Two things most Brighton fans could only have dreamed of when the Seagulls were languishing in the old Fourth Division without any prospects of success and without even a stadium to call their own. How things have changed since they were promoted to the Premier League in 2017.
A month on from their first ever European encounter, the home game against AEK Athens, which despite them twice coming from behind ended in a 2:3 defeat, here was little ol’ Brighton hosting one of the most storied names in European football, the 36 time Dutch champions, Ajax of Amsterdam. It was always going to be the standout game of the Group B draw, despite the fact this wasn’t the dominant Ajax that once featured football royalty such as Johann Cruyff, Marco van Basten, Patrick Kluivert and Dennis Berghamp.
In truth, this was a meeting of two clubs going in opposite directions. Brighton are currently flying high in the Premier League, while Ajax find themselves in unfamiliar territory, second from bottom of the Eredivisie, their lowest ever league position.
The storied Dutch club are quite literally in turmoil, having sacked their manager Maurice Steijn earlier in the week and also seen their sporting director depart the same month after the worst start to a season in their history.
Even so, Brighton’s head coach, Roberto De Zerbi, celebrating one year in charge of the club, warned against complacency:
“They are experiencing not a very good moment, but they are still Ajax and we expect a lot from them.”
The hastily appointed interim manager, John van’T Schip was as unfamiliar a name as most of the Ajax team, who ever since seeing Erik ten Haag departed for Man Utd, have also seen the likes of Lisandro Martinez, Mohammed Kudos and Ryan Gravenberch all leave the club.
It was a big night for another recent departee, Albion’s Dutch defender Joel Veltman, who joined Ajax when he was just 10 before moving to Brighton some 18 years later in 2020. Speaking ahead of the game, he said:
“The draw was really special for me personally. It’s a special feeling when you play against your old club. For 90 minutes you have to put the past to one side, but it’s going to be a very special occasion.”
Being the shadow of the club they once were, it was fitting that Ajax took the field wearing all black, rather than their famous white tops with the red stripe. Their fans did their best to cheer them on, but they too were a poor comparison to the raucous Athens fans who created such an atmosphere at the Amex the previous month.
Given all that, perhaps it wasn’t so surprising that this was much less of a test for Albion, even though injuries meant they were without key players including Danny Welbeck and Solly March.
Despite it being a much easier affair, with Ajax sitting deep, Brighton struggled to turn their dominance into goals and it wasn’t until three minutes before the break that they made their 65% possession count.
No surprise that the player who created the opportunity was Brighton’s star man, Kaoru Mitoma whose shot was pushed out by Ramaj, or that it was the onrushing Joao Pedro who put the ball in the net, the Brazilian tucking away his 4th goal in Europe and 6th of the season.
Almost immediately after the break, the Seagulls doubled their lead, with Ansu Fati, the 20-year-old on-loan from Barcelona who was so anonymous against Athens, deftly slotting the ball past the Ajax keeper and into the bottom left corner on 54 minutes for his first goal at the Amex.
While never threatening, Ajax did manage to hit the post, but a goal would have been much more than they deserved.
In the end, in front of 30,540 jubilant fans, it was a famous night for the Albion. With their first ever victory in European football, they now top Group B and keep their hopes alive of reaching the Europe League knockout stages. They will also be pleased to have kept a clean sheet against a legendary name like Ajax, their first in 13 games this season.
After the game, De Zerbi had this to say:
“We played very well, we deserved to win, maybe with more goals, but most important is that we didn’t concede a goal. We’ve got our first victory in Europe. It was a great day for our fans, our club and our owner.”
Behind the shot: All these images were taken handheld with the Olympus OM-D E-M1 using the M Zuiko 1.8 75mm lens. As with the AEK match, instead of being in the press box close to the pitch, I was again sat in the nosebleeds at the very back of the stand. That meant it was impossible to get the kind of dynamic images I wanted, all I could do was get ‘aerial’ shots of the action. Shot at the Amex Stadium on 24 October 2023.
About the author: Based in Sussex-by-the-Sea, on England’s south coast, Gary is a creative writer and image-maker. He specialises in creating out of the ordinary portraits of musicians and people with interesting faces, as well as photographing some of the world’s finest flowers and gardens, not forgetting an array of automotive exotica.
On the writing side, he has used his research skills to author deep dives into some noteworthy songs beginning with Bryan Ferry’s ‘These Foolish Things’ ‘Ghost Town’ by The Specials, ‘Real Wild Child’ by Ivan and ‘All The Young Dudes’ by Mott the Hoople.
He has also written a biography of Robert Palmer and the stories behind Whitesnake’s blatant Led Zep rip-off, ‘Still Of The Night’, Harry Styles’ anthem to positivity, ‘Treat People With Kindness’ and the little known Queen track ‘Cool Cat.’
Most recently, Gary has penned the fascinating story behind George Orwell’s dystopian novel ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four.’ as well as ‘Believe It Or Not’ a look into the rise of fake news.
All these can be found here on Medium, along with his reviews of gigs and events and chats with musicians including the likes of Royal Blood, Joe Satriani and Wolf Alice.
