Erik ten Hag has been amazed at the bizarre state of affairs surrounding the corona tests of Ajax in the run-up to the Champions League match against FC Midtjylland on Tuesday. The trainer seemed to miss important forces in Herning, but they were allowed to travel to Denmark much later.
“Insane, that’s for sure”, said Ten Hag on Tuesday shortly before the match in the MCH Arena, which Ajax won 1-2, in front of the camera. SBS6. “It went in all directions. Fortunately the players are here now.”
Ten Hag was referring to the arrival of Dusan Tadic, André Onana, Ryan Gravenberch, Davy Klaassen, Zakaria Labyad and Maarten Stekelenburg, who were not allowed to travel with the selection on Monday afternoon after positive corona tests. Ajax immediately requested re-tests and they were all negative, so that the six can still play against the Danish champion.
“What has happened in recent days is too much to tell,” continued Ten Hag. “We are happy that we can play football, I want to say that. But we can expect the tests to be good. On Friday everyone tested negative, but on Monday suddenly many players and people from the staff were positive. Then the alarm bells went off. . “
‘Klaassen has just arrived’
After the negative outcome on Monday evening, Onana, Tadic, Gravenberch and banker Labyad were given the green light by the Danish authorities and UEFA to travel to Denmark.
Klaassen and Stekelenburg followed on Tuesday afternoon, although there was not even time for the two to go to the players hotel. They went straight from the airport to the stadium, where the kick-off took place at 9 p.m.
“It took a lot of effort to get everyone here,” said Ten Hag. “Klaassen has only just arrived and is therefore starting on the bench. The messy preparation has certainly had consequences.”
Despite that messy preparation, Ajax quickly took a 0-2 lead against Midtjylland after goals from Antony and Tadic. The Danes came back to 1-2 through Anders Dreyer and that was it. Klaassen came in halfway when the final score was already on the scoreboard.
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