Kiev, March 13 (IANS) Ukrainian football club Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk beat Dutch club AFC Ajax Amsterdam 1-0 in the first leg of Europa League’s round of 16 here.
The Thursday’s game started with slow pace due to the rain-soaked condition of the playing field at the Olympic Stadium. Both sides were not able to create obvious goal scoring opportunities from the very beginning of the match, reports Xinhua.
The Ukrainian side opened the scoring in the 30th minute when Roman Zozulya netted a goal with a powerful effort past Ajax’s goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen after a pass by Eugene Konoplyanka.
In the second half, both teams had wasted several chances for goals and the score remained unchanged until the end of the game.
Dnipro and Ajax will meet again in the second leg of Europa League in Amsterdam on March 19.
Three players from the Dnipropetrovsk team, including Zozulya will miss the upcoming game after picking up second yellow cards in the Thursday’s match.