Ajax sink Roma as Inter edge out Bayer

FABIO CAPELLO’S AS Roma were clinging to Champions’ League survival last night after their second consecutive defeat in Group B of the second phase of the competition, this time a 2-1 loss at the hands of Ajax in Amsterdam.

With his side lying a lowly 11th in Serie A and showing an inability to score enough goals in the competition, Roma were always going to be under pressure against the Dutch outfit. That pressure was doubled for the Italians when, after a scrappy start to the game, they went a goal behind on the 11th minute when Zlatan Ibrahimovic took advantage of a terrible mistake by Antonioli in the Roma goal. He failed to gather de Jong’s shot from distance and the ball bounced up off his forehead and into the path of Ibrahimovic, who waited before side footing the ball past the stranded goalie.

Thereafter Ajax were prepared to sit back and wait for the breaks to come and they looked very dangerous on the break. Totti came close to equalising with a free kick in the 34th minute, but his shot just went over the bar. Roma saw more of the ball in the second half and Candela and Totti went close again, but in the 66th minute Jari Litmanen put Ajax two ahead when he was teed up by Ibrahimovic’s cut back and he chose his spot before curling the ball beyond Antonioli into the top right-hand corner.