European Champions League

Ajax 1 – Real Madrid 2

Ajax: Onana; Mazraoui, Blind, De Ligt, Tagliafico; Schone (Dolberg 75’), De Jong; Ziyech, Van de Beek, Neres; Tadic. 4-2-3-1.
Madrid: Courtois; Carvajal, Sergio Ramos, Nacho, Reguilón; Modric, Casemiro, Kroos; Bale (Lucas Vázquez 69’), Benzema (Marco Asensio 73’), Vinicius (Mariano 81’). 4-3-3.

Goals:
0-1. 68. Benzema. Picked up Vinicius pass and fired shot past Onana.
1-1. 75. Ziyech. Connected with Neres cross to shoot wide of Courtois.
1-2. 87. Marco Asensio. Turned Dani Carvajal cross into net on far post.

Yellow cards: Ziyech 53’, Reguilón 70’, Lucas Vázquez 83’, Sergio Ramos 90’.

The Champions League returned this week, triple defending champions Real Madrid starting things off with a 1-2 win at Ajax on Wednesday evening. There was a scare before the break when the VAR system ruled out a headed goal by Tagliafico, but midway through the second half Benzema put the Liga side ahead after good work by Vinicius. Ziyech made it all square soon afterwards, but with three minutes to go Marco Asensio turned in Dani Carvajal’s cross to give his team the edge for the second leg.