Ajax Amsterdam gave itself an excellent chance of progressing to the last 16 of the UEFA Cup with a 1-0 win away at Fiorentina on Thursday. Fiorentina will feel it should have won following a failure to finish good chances.

Captain Adrian Mutu thought he scored early but he was ruled offside. Riccardo Montolivio had Fiorentina’s best chance in the 18th minute. The midfielder ran onto Aleberto Gilardino’s pass, rounded goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg but fired over the bar. Kennedy Bakircioglu notched the only goal on the hour, firing home from the edge of the area after strong a buildup.

Mutu was energetic all night, but could only produce a weak shot at Stekelenburg when he was set up inside the penalty area.

Posted on February 21st, 2009 by Dan
Filed under: Uncategorized