Group B
Sparta Prague 1-1 Ajax
A last-gasp goal by Wesley Sneijder cancelled out Miroslav Matusovic’s opener to salvage a valuable point for an injury-ravaged Ajax side in the Czech capital last night.
The visitors dominated much of the first half, going close through Steven Pienaar who, after some clever interplay with Markus Rosenberg, dragged his shot just wide of the left hand post.
Sparta did formulate some chances their own, the best of which fell to Miroslav Slepica – deployed as the lone striker in a 4-2-3-1 formation – but he couldn’t quite connect with Karel Kisel’s pin point centre from the right flank.
His namesake Matusovic – whom he was replaced by at half time – would ultimately prove more clinical when, twenty minutes after the restart, the striker fired a blistering long range shot into the back of Hans Vonk’s net.
Two minute later, the impressive Ryan Babel almost equalized for Ajax, but his drive from distance rebounded off the outside of the post, and it was the youngster who’s deft back – heel would tee up Sneijder to level the scores one minute into injury time.
