Champions' League Group C, Matchday 1 - 15/9/04
Ajax 0 - 1 Juventus
Nedved 42 (J)
Amsterdam Arena
Pavel Nedved's spectacular goal has given Juventus a deserved and precious victory at Ajax's Amsterdam Arena.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic could not have asked for a more evocative atmosphere in which to make his first start in a Juventus shirt, as the £11m signing was back in Amsterdam to face his former club. He was partnered with Alessandro Del Piero, leaving David Trezeguet on the bench, while Mauro Camoranesi won the battle with Ruben Olivera for that right flank.
The Bianconeri stepped out in their new all-blue kit with Fabio Capello hoping to end his record of never having beaten this Dutch outift.
Ajax were thought to be a bit more toothless upfront after the departure of Ibrahimovic, but within 90 seconds Wesley Sonck had rattled the crossbar with a fierce effort from almost 20 metres. Camoranesi's error had given the ball away in midfield for this early scare.
Del Piero's relatively weak effort was easily dealt with and Ibrahimovic failed to make the most of a good scoring opportunity, but at the other end Gianluigi Buffon showed his confidence by chipping the ball around an approaching Rafael van der Vaart.
Pavel Nedved was furious when he fell under an Obodai challenge in the box and was booked for dissent. Almost all Juve's attacks were coming down the left from Gianluca Zambrotta.
With a rare move from the right, Nedved set up Camoranesi and the Italian international drove his effort wide of the near post. However, the former Verona player again gave the ball away in midfield and Buffon got down well to hold Mitea's half-volley.
Ibrahimovic and Zambrotta saw long-range shots charged down, then Nedved limped off after he had been accidentally kneed in the back by Obodai. The Czech international has a long history of back problems, but was able to carry on after treatment.
He recovered after a couple of minutes, because just before the break Nedved gave Juventus a deserved lead. Del Piero's chipped pass found Camoranesi, but realising he was closed down he set it up for Nedved's spectacular flick into the top corner with the outside of his right foot.
Buffon performed an extraordinary reaction save on both Sonck's back-heel and a close-range Pienaar attempt at the dawn of the second half, as the Ajax players saw their shots squeezed out from three yards.
Van der Vaart then just failed to get on the end of Mitea's sweeping low cross as the home side poured on the pressure, while Emerson nodded a Del Piero free kick off target.
Fabio Capello made two substitutions on the hour mark, introducing Gianluca Pessotto and Ruben Olivera for Alessandro Birindelli and a badly limping Nedved. At first Camoranesi was set to make way for Olivera, eliciting a fuming reaction from the Argentine-born winger, but Lippi changed his mind after seeing that Nedved was in some pain.
Buffon flew to pluck van der Vaart's splendid free kick out of the top corner, so Lippi tried to ease the pressure on their midfield by replacing Del Piero with Ghanaian Stephen Appiah.
Ibrahimovic finally had a chance on goal on 78 minutes when his glancing header from Camoranesi's cross was well saved by former teammate Stekelenburg.
The goalkeeper was then at full stretch to palm Olivera's powerful long-range strike out as it whipped towards the right-hand side of his net. Soon after their duel was played out again with the Uruguayan's free kick, this time at the opposite post.
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Ajax: Stekelenburg; Grygera (Escude' 75), Heitinga, De Jong, Maxwell; Obodai (Anastasiou 71), Sneijder (De Mul 66), Van der Vaart; Pienaar, Sonck, Mitea
Juventus: Buffon; Birindelli (Pessotto 65), Thuram, Cannavaro, Zambrotta; Camoranesi, Emerson, Blasi, Nedved (Olivera 65); Del Piero (Appiah 77), Ibrahimovic
Ref: Meier (Swi)
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It got even worse for Roma, as on his way back to the dressing room referee Anders Frisk was struck on the head by a lighter thrown from the stands and was clearly losing a lot of blood. UEFA will come down hard on the club, especially as this was the same referee that oversaw the infamous riot with Galatasaray in the same Stadium. What made the incident all the more extraordinary was that the lighter was thrown from the Tribuna Montemario - the most expensive seats in the Stadio Olimpico.
The second half was held up for half an hour, during which Frisk was taken to hospital for x-rays and tests on a possible head trauma. The options at this stage were to carry on with the fourth official in charge or abandon the game and give Dynamo Kiev the three points, but as time wore on it became evident there was to be no more football tonight.
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