Fiorentina qualifies for the Conference League final at the expense of Club Brugge and that is bad news for Ajax

Fiorentina qualified for the final of the UEFA Conference League on Wednesday evening at the expense of Club Brugge. After the 3-2 victory in the first leg, the 1-1 in the return was enough for the Italians to secure a starting ticket for the final battle for the second year in a row. And that is bad news for Ajax in the battle for direct qualification for the main tournament of the Europa League.

For a long time, Club Brugge seemed to have an excellent starting point for the return when they visited Fiorentina, but a goal by M’Bala Nzola in the first minute of injury time put a stop to that. Fiorentina thus worked towards the cracker in Belgium with an advantage. The Italians did not show in the opening phase that they were hunting for a larger margin. They took their time with everything and gave Club Brugge the ball. But after seventeen minutes there was a change. Maxim De Cuyper converted an excellent cross from Hans Vanaken into a goal: 1-0 for the home team.

The opening goal, which would ultimately be scored by Vanaken, ensured that Fiorentina had to come. And the visitors came too. They had good opportunities to equalize, including through Christian Kouamé. The winger saw his effort bounce back into the field off the underside of the crossbar just before the goal line. On the other hand, Igor Thiago missed a good opportunity to make it 2-0. The Brazilian, who will transfer to Brentford for a lot of money after this season, went alone to the Fiorentina goalkeeper and put the ball wide, but could not get it to a teammate.

After half-time, the home team’s first dangerous moments came. After a clever pass from Hugo Vetlesen, Ferran Jutgla and De Cuyper got in each other’s way and from the corner kick that followed, Denis Odoi got the ball on his back instead of against his forehead. Fiorentina gradually became stronger again in the second half and Club Brugge again got away very well. Cristiano Biraghi hit the crossbar from a free kick and Kouamé, who already hit the crossbar in the first half, headed against the post. Club Brugge had luck on its side for a long time, but in the final phase the Italians finally scored. In an attempt to clear the ball, Brandon Mechele hit Nzola’s head. The referee had no choice but to point to the spot. Lucas Beltrán did not miss this opportunity and made it 1-1.

That goal was difficult to call undeserved, after all those opportunities for Fiorentina. But there was no reason to panic for Club Brugge yet. The match was temporarily stopped just after the whistle for the start of the second half due to fireworks and that interruption, among other things, resulted in a considerable amount of extra time being added: seven minutes. During that extra time, a large part of the stadium shouted for a penalty after an alleged foul on De Cuyper, but the referee wanted nothing to do with it. The video referee also did not see a penalty. Vanaken was then very close to making it 2-1, but Fiorentina’s closing post made a great save to ensure that the first ticket for the final remained in Italian hands.

Bad news for Ajax

Ajax will have closely followed the developments in the Jan Breydel Stadium with great interest. After all, the Amsterdam team can still qualify directly for the main tournament of the Europa League. They are dependent on the UEFA Conference League winner and FC Porto’s season finale. Club Brugge would have been a favorable Conference League winner for Ajax, because that club will most likely qualify for the Champions League or Europa League via the national competition. But the Belgians are now outplayed in Europe. Fiorentina occupies ninth place in Serie A and will normally no longer qualify directly for the Champions or Europa League.