Swinging Ajax records a seventh win in a row against Maccabi Tel Aviv (5-0).

NOS Football•yesterday, 11:03 PM

Ajax continues to do well. A 5-0 victory over Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Europa League was the seventh win in a row for the reborn Amsterdam club, which has not lost since the 2-1 at NAC on August 18.

Thanks to the victory over the Israelis in the Johan Cruijff Arena, Ajax is second in the Europa League standings. With ten points from four matches – Ajax won at home against Besiktas (4-0) and away at Qarabag ()-3) and played 1-1 at Slavia Prague – the Amsterdam team has the knockout phase in their sights.

Ajax gained a lot of self-confidence last week with the away win over Feyenoord in the classic (0-2) and the 3-2 victory over PSV, with the leader from Eindhoven being treated to the first loss of points in the Premier League.

That confidence was reflected against the still winless Maccabi. This time, trainer Francesco Farioli had a starting place in store for struggling striker Brian Brobbey, who last scored at the end of August, assisted on the right by Bertrand Traoré and on the left by Mika Godts.

In the fourth minute, Brobbey had a good chance to open the score after a pass from Godts, but he shot the ball from close range into the face of goalkeeper Roi Mishpati, who was therefore groggy for a moment.

But with an assist, Brobbey was partly responsible for the 1-0 ten minutes later. Branco van den Boomen found Brobbey on the left with a deep pass, who then served Traoré.

Ajax was dominant and Maccabi’s apparent 1-1 in the twentieth minute came out of the blue, but the Amsterdam team was lucky that Daniele Rugani’s own goal was disallowed due to offside by Maccabi striker David Turgerman.

The home club quickly picked up the thread again. The 2-0 in the 27th minute was the result of a nice triangle between Kian Fitz-Jim, Brobbey and Taylor. Fitz-Jim tapped a ball to Brobbey, who with a nice backheel enabled Taylor to score.

It was 3-0 before half time. Van den Boomen extended a deep pass with his head that ended up at Godts, after which the Belgian was able to score his fourth goal in the Europa League. Godts also had the 4-0 on his shoe a minute later, but this time he aimed wide. Brobbey also had a great chance of scoring the fourth Amsterdam goal.

The break initially did Ajax no good. Only in the 57th minute did the Amsterdam crowd bounce back with a chance from Traoré, who shot wide off the foot of a Maccabi defender after good work by Brobbey.

Three minutes later there was still cheering. After the spectators had chanted his name as moral support, Brobbey rammed an indirect free kick inside the penalty area mercilessly hard against the ropes. With the 4-0 he ended his goal drought.

The 5-0 came in the 68th minute from Fitz-Jim after an assist from substitute Steven Berghuis. Five minutes later, VAR stopped substitute Christian Rasmussen’s 6-0, who turned out to be offside with a toe.