Ajax surpasses the champion of Greece .. Porto, the most visible victim of "heroes"

Ajax Amsterdam, which reached the semi-finals last season, overcame its tough test in the third qualifying round of the Champions League for the 2019-2020 season by beating last night at home the Greek champion PAOK Thesaloniki PAOK 3-2.

Despite his victory in the Dutch league for the 34th time and his serious chances of winning his fifth title in the Champions League last season before ending up in the quarterfinals against Tottenham, tilting at home 2 or 3 after being taxed 1-0, Ajax does not qualify automatically. For the group stage due to the Dutch league clbadification.

The team of Eric Ten Haag began his continental career from the third qualifying round, where it sank 2 to 2 with PAOK thanks to the goals of Moroccan Hakim Ziach and veteran Klaas Jan Huntelaar, before hosting the return meeting very difficult for him because he was lagging behind half an hour ago. The first, however, ended the first period at the same distance from the house thanks to a penalty imposed on Serbian star Dushan Tadic.

Ajax then waited for the last 20 minutes of the match to qualify against Argentine Nicolas Taliavico, then Tadic strengthened the Dutch champion's gap with a second penalty in the last five minutes, before Constantinus Baloyanis worried fans of the second goal of "Johan Cruyff Arena", However, the players of Ten Haag remained calm and finally came out victorious.

Ajax not only secured its place in the group stage by joining teams such as defending champion Liverpool or Barcelona and Juventus, which deprived it of its two main pillars, Frankie de Jong and Matisse de Licht, but must also play a decisive role in the match for two games played at Apoel Nicosia. The Cypriots will meet him on the 20th and 28th of this month, after he has pbaded Azerbaijani Karabakh.

Porto, another former champion, was forced to participate in the third qualifying round. He finished last season against Benfica, but did not win. The 1987 and 2004 champion at the hands of Russia's Krasnodar ended in a defeat at home and the fans 2-3 at a late match. They took a 3-0 lead after 34 minutes and won 1-0 at home.