Ajax coach Francesco Farioli feels they caused Lazio more problems than anyone this season and deserved more, but he is ‘happy they are representing Italian football’ in the Europa League.
It was quite an achievement for the Aquile to conquer the Johan Cruijff ArenA, especially considering the Dutch giants had won their last three European home fixtures with 12 goals scored and zero conceded.
Bertrand Traore cancelled out the Loum Tchaouna opener, but Fisayo Dele-Bashiru and a Pedro curler into the top corner secured a 3-1 result.
“We saw a lot of Lazio games and this was probably the one where they suffered the most,” Farioli told Sky Sport Italia.
“They are a team in a moment of great confidence and form, their organisation is remarkable, their quality and physicality, but my lads dominated both with and without the ball. There are regrets over the result and we certainly deserved more.”
Lazio are no fluke, winning 14 of their last 17 competitive matches between Serie A, the Coppa Italia and the Europa League.
Ajax had an Expected Goals score of over 2 tonight, but apart from rattling the crossbar a couple of times, Christos Mandas was not forced into as many saves as Remko Pasveer.
“We lacked precision in our finishing. Lazio are in a magical period of form and everything is going their way at the moment. They all feel positive, are fighting for the maximum result in every game and are competitive on three fronts,” added Italian tactician Farioli.
“I congratulate them and am happy that Lazio are representing Italian football around Europe.”
Ajax are still in 11th place in the Europa League with 10 points from six games, so are they on track for this term?
“I think we are in fact doing much better than anyone expected at this stage. The last two years have been very complicated, we were unable to bring any new players in and had to only sell, so the priority is to balance the books,” explained Farioli.
“Unfortunately, and it’s the first time since the start of the season, we are without a win in three, but overall we are heading in the direction where we want to be.”