Spurs 0, Ajax 1: Short-handed Tottenham drops Champions League semifinal opener

Ajax’s magical run in this season’s UEFA Champions League continued on Tuesday with a dominant semifinal first leg win over short-handed Tottenham in London.

At 1-0, the final score was deceiving. Minus its all-world attackers Harry Kane and Son Heung-min, Spurs was no match for these young Dutch masters. Ajax’s latest golden generation of future superstars — who deservedly eliminated three-time defending champ Real Madrid and then Cristiano Ronaldo-led Italian titans Juventus to reach the final four — basically played the Premier Leaguers off the pitch for most of the match at spanking new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Donny van de Beek had all the time he needed to pick his spot and give the visitors a potentially decisive away goal following a slick passing sequence that unlocked the home team’s back line and left the 22-year-old midfielder one-on-one with keeper Hugo Lloris:

Initial video replays suggested that Van de Beek may have been a step offside. But the Video Assistant Referee determined after review that Spurs wing back Kieran Trippier narrowly kept him on. The goal stood.

Reeling Tottenham had no answer for Ajax’s relentless high-press, coughing up the ball time and again over the opening half-hour. And the four time European champ —only Real, AC Milan, Bayern Munich and fellow semifinalists Barcelona and Liverpool have more continental titles than Ajax, although its most recent triumph came 24 years ago — nearly doubled its lead shortly thereafter.

Van de Beek let the hosts off the hook, though, squandering another pretty buildup with a bad-angle shot straight at Lloris:

Things quickly went from bad to worse for Spurs. A scary head-to-head collision between Belgian defenders Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld resulted in a bleeding and very obviously concussed Vertonghen somehow being allowed to continue.

Moments later, Vertonghen took himself out of the match, unable to play on. Wobbly on his feet, the former Ajax stalwart had to be helped off the field six minutes before halftime:

Wounded, Tottenham enjoyed its brightest stretch of the opening stanza just before the break. But they couldn’t find a momentum-changing equalizer despite a few decent looks at goal. Alderweireld nodded Tottenham’s best chance over the crossbar before the whistle blew:

Badly out-possessed most of the night, Mauricio Pochettino’s side was better in the second half. But it wasn’t enough, not even close. The only consolation for Spurs was that they didn’t concede a backbreaking second or third goal. Had David Neres not pinged Lloris’ post and scored another late on, Tottenham would’ve faced a much more daunting task in the decider of the total-goals series next week at Johan Cruyff Arena in Amsterdam:

Instead, Spurs still has a chance. While the injured Kane won’t play again this season unless Tottenham mounts a comeback and makes the June 1 final, if even then, Son returns for the second leg following a one-game suspension for yellow card accumulation.

That said, based on Tuesday’s evidence, it’s hard to see the South Korean dynamo, as good as he is, make up the apparently glaring gulf in class between these teams all alone.

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