Steijn made three changes relative to the last friendly against Shakhtar Donetsk. Gero Rulli, Kenneth Taylor and Brian Brobbey had a place in the starting lineup. That left Jay Gorter, Benjamin Tahirović and Christian Rasmussen on the bench in Brussels. The Belgian opponent had two familiar faces in their lineup: Jan Vertonghen and Dolberg.
Difficult start
The latter only needed twelve minutes to do what he'd been taken on to do for the Belgians: score. The former Ajax player cleverly found space in the penalty area and slotted the ball past Rulli: 1-0. Ajax didn't have much to answer that in the first half-hour, and mostly saw the home team come in front of Rulli's goal dangerously several times. It was only thanks to interventions by the Argentine and Jorrel Hato that the score wasn't doubled. Steven Bergwijn came closest to an Amsterdam goal just ten minutes before the half: his shot was parried by the Anderlecht keeper.
Opportunities for Ajax
With Tahirović for Davy Klaassen, Ajax started well in the second half. That very quickly led to a great chance for Kenneth Taylor, but his clean shot was kept out by the post. Not long later, the Amsterdam squad came close to the equaliser again. This time, Anass Salah-Eddine, Mohammed Kudus and Bergwijn just missed the goal. With twenty minutes to play, the Ghanaian created danger again, but slammed the ball off the crossbar.
The goal came at the other end. A cross from the right was misstruck by Olivier Aertssen which directed the ball behind a helpless Jay Gorter: 2-0. Just before time, the Belgians added a third goal. Substitute Benito Raman shoved the ball into the far corner behind Gorter: 3-0.
RSC Anderlecht – Ajax (1-0) 3-0
12. Dolberg 1-0
80. Aertssen (e.d.) 2-0
90+4. Raman 3-0
Ajax: Rulli (67. Gorter); Rensch, Aertssen, Hato, Salah-Eddine; Van den Boomen, Taylor (90. Godts), Klaassen (46. Tahirović); Kudus, Brobbey (67. Conceição), Bergwijn (75. Daramy).
