Joel Matip Strikes at Death to Earn Liverpool Maximum Points Against Ajax

Joel Matip Strikes at Death to Earn Liverpool Maximum Points Against Ajax

Martin Moses
updated at April 12, 2023 at 8:11 PM
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  • Liverpool returned to winning ways in the Champions League after battling out to a hard-fought win over Ajax
  • The game looked destined for a draw until Joel Matip rose highest to head in a corner with less than a minute left
  • Jurgen Klopp's charges were beaten by Napoli on the opening game day, while Ajax were 4-0 victors against Rangers

Liverpool left it late to pick their first points of the new Champions League season with a 2-1 victory over Ajax at the Anfield stadium.

Joel Matip scored with a minute left on the clock to ensure Jurgen Klopp's side stopped a resilient Ajax side who were looking to bag back-to-back wins.

Joel Matip, Liverpool, Mohammed Kudus, Ajax, Champions League
Joel Matip celebrates after scoring for Liverpool against Ajax at Anfield. Photo by Matthew Ashton.
Source: Getty Images

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Liverpool were not in action over the weekend after all Premier League fixtures were rescheduled following the death of Queen Elizabeth II. They, however, had the chance to rectify the wrongs of last week where they were beaten 4-1 by Napoli.

Mohamed Salah completed a wonderful team move, but 10 minutes later, the Reds were pegged back by a scorcher of a shot from Mohamed Kudus.

After Kudus' goal, Liverpool twice came close to restoring their lead with Trent Alexander-Arnold at the centre of both chances. Virgil Van Dijk forced a save from Remko Pasveer as the game headed into the break all level.

The second half saw more chances missed, with Kudus having calls for a penalty turned down by centre referee Dias Soarez, Klopp introduced the club's record signing Darwin Nunez but the Ajax defence marshalled by former Manchester United man Daley Blind remained firm.

The defence was finally breached when Kostas Tsimikas, standing in for the injured Andy Robertson, swung in a corner that was turned home by Joel Matip.

It brought memories of the Premier League clash where Liverpool scored late against Newcastle, evoking some frenzied reactions from an electric Anfield atmosphere.

Stunning video of Mohammed Kudus' goal against Liverpool

Sports Brief has also reported that Mohammed Kudus has scored again for Ajax to draw the Dutch champions level in their UEFA Champions League clash against Liverpool.

The 22-year-old Ghanaian connected from a Steven Berghuis assist to cancel an early lead from Mohamed Salah for Liverpool.

Mohammed Kudus has now scored in four successive games for the Dutch giants and in back-to-back UEFA Champions League games for Ajax.

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Martin Moses
Martin Moses is a sports journalist with over five years of experience in media. He graduated from Multimedia University of Kenya (Bachelor of Journalism, 2017-2021)
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