Arsenal dominate but draw a blank against home town champions Ajax

Ajax 0 Arsenal 0

The Gunners, who drew 0-0 with River Plate in Friday’s match, were by far the more impressive side but could find no way past the outstanding Ajax goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg.

Stekelenburg conjured up a host of magnificent saves in the second-half to keep the game goalless. Yesterday’s other match saw Argentinian giants River Plate beat Panathinaikos 1-0, meaning Ajax, who beat the Greek club 3-2 on Friday, finished top of the standings for the fourth year in a row.

Jose Antonio Reyes, who was named as the player of the tournament, impressed again for the Gunners but he was unable to make the most of the plethora of chances.

He had three opportunities to net in a manic three-minute spell in the first half. The opening chance, after 16 minutes, saw Reyes latch onto a Fredrik Ljungberg header and fire in a left-footed effort which clipped the top of the Ajax crossbar.

The Spaniard had to wait less than 60 seconds for his next sight of goal. Reyes picked up a loose ball and his curling left-footed shot only just went wide of the far post. He worked another opening in the 18th minute.

Ljungberg rolled a pass along the edge of the six-yard box which looked destined to be dispatched into the back of the net by Reyes. But the former Sevilla man just failed to get his foot onto the cross.

In the second, Reyes was denied by Stekelenburg after the striker had been put through by Dennis Bergkamp. But after showing good speed and strength to evade an Ajax defender, Reyes was unable to beat Stekelenburg who did well to save with his feet.

That was one of a host of brilliant saves that Stekelenburg produced after the break to deny the English champions. Pires was twice thwarted in quick succession, the first from a header that Stekelenburg somehow managed to push over the bar and the second from a low curling shot from the edge of the area that was pushed away.

Stekelenburg not only had to keep the Gunners’ forwards at bay. He also needed to be alert to claw away an errant backpass from team-mate Wesley Sneijder that very nearly crossed the line.

Jeremie Aliadiere was the next Arsenal player to be denied by the Ajax goalkeeper when, 10 minutes from time, Stekelenburg raced from his line to block the youngster’s shot.

The hosts barely threatened the Arsenal goal in the second half although Cole needed to be alert to deny Ibrahimovic again with another goal-line clearance after Lehmann had failed to collect a corner.

But even though they were second best to Arsenal, the draw was enough to see Ajax finish top of the pile for yet another season in their own tournament.