Ajax beat Atalanta in Conference League; Riga draw in Cyprus
In the second round of the UEFA Conference League league phase, Ajax Amsterdam beat Italy's Atalanta 2-0. Latvia's Riga drew 1-1 away to Pafos.
Ajax Amsterdam beat Italian side Atalanta 2-0 in the second round of the league phase of the UEFA Conference League, Europe's third-tier club football competition. The Dutch club had lost its opening match 2-1 away to Croatia's Hajduk Split, so the win was important for their campaign.
The match
Ajax attacked with more urgency than the opponents, who won the 2024 UEFA Europa League, especially in the first half, but the goals were slow to come. It was 0-0 at the break. In the 87th minute, Nigerian forward Tolu Arokodare skilfully handled the ball and beat the goalkeeper. In stoppage time he set up 17-year-old Moroccan Abdellah Ouazane, who made it 2-0. Arokodare joined Ajax in the summer after a controversial spell at Wolverhampton in England. He has not secured a regular starting place, and again came on as a substitute.
Other results
In Cyprus, Riga drew 1-1 with Pafos, with no goals in the first half. Turkey's Trabzonspor won 2-0 against Heart of Midlothian of Edinburgh, Scotland, and Monaco of France beat Germany's Freiburg 3-0. Greece's Panathinaikos won 5-1 away at Kairat Almaty in Kazakhstan, and Switzerland's Lugano won 5-2 at Getafe in Spain.
What comes next
Atalanta will host Kairat Almaty on 5 November. Ajax will play Denmark's Midtjylland of Herning, whose campaign has started disappointingly with a 1-1 draw against Albania's Egnatia and a 1-0 loss to Belgium's Sint-Truiden.
