Ajax appears to have got itself out of financial dire straights after beating Dynamo Kyiv 2-1 on Wednesday night in Amsterdam’s Arena stadium. Last week’s first leg match in Ukraine ended in a 1-all draw, making it 3-2 on aggregate.

The second leg win firmly places the Dutch team in the group phase of the lucrative Champions League, which could lead to an extra turnover of 25 million euros. Last year, the club’s books were more than 21 million euros in the red. It has been more than four years since the four-times European Champions took part in the Champions League.

Saves the day
The fans went mad after the final whistle, conveniently forgetting that Kyiv had dominated the first half of the match and much of the second half. Luckily for Ajax, Maarten Stekelenburg saved the day, preventing Oleg Gusiev from scoring in the 34th minute and five minutes later stopping a goal by Andriy Yarmolenko.

Ajax cashed in on its first chance with Luis Suarez scoring from a difficult position at the end of the first half. After the break, the Amsterdam team were back in form and dominated the game just as they had done in the last 45 minutes of the match in Kyiv, when Dynamo were down to 10. Suarez almost scored in the 52nd minute, but Dynamo's goalkeeper Koval managed to knock the ball out of the top corner.

Relief
In the 75th minute, Ajax could heave a sigh of relief as Mounir El Hamdaoui netted the second goal of the game. Dynamo Kyiv looked like it could come back five minutes before time scoring a penalty after Jan Vertonghen floored substitute Milos Ninkovic in the penalty area.

After the match, Ajax manager Martin Jol praised Dynamo's performance, "I couldn't sit calmly on the bench. They were certainly better in the first half. Luckily they missed a couple of chances."

Suarez and Vertonghen won’t be playing in the first of the six group matches after getting a yellow card. Ajax’s three opponents will be made known today when the draw is announced in Monaco.