Ajax finish with 10 men and goalless draw in Cyprus

PARIS: Ajax finished with 10 men on Tuesday but moved closer to the Champions League group stage with a 0-0 draw away to APOEL in Nicosia in a playoff round first-leg match.

The game was goalless but packed with incident. Ajax, a four-time winner of the competition and a semi-finalist last season, dominated possession and created a string of promising situations.

But the lively home attack, with 22-year-old Jordanian Musa Suleiman showing some eye-catching form, created the most dangerous chances. Ajax conceded a string of free kicks in the second half and Noussair Mazraoui paid the price when a flailing tackle on Uros Matic earned him a second yellow card with 10 minutes to play.

Veteran striker Klass Jan Huntelaar, who came on with 12 minutes left, had a clear opportunity to win the game in added time, but the 36-year-old’s tame chip was cleared. “We gave the ball away too easily and we must improve next week,” said Ajax attacker Dusan Tadic.

While Ajax were disappointed with an away draw, Nicholas Ioannou, APOEL captain, was happy with his team’s chances. “We played really well,” he said. “We defended very well and had some good chances at the other end to score.”

There was only one goal from open play in the night’s three matches, but it was a pretty strike to give Slavia Prague a 1-0 victory in Cluj. Nicolae Stanciu played a 28th-minute corner to Lukas Masopust, lurking outside the penalty area. The midfielder flighted the ball into the far corner of the net with the gentlest of long-range volleys.

Cluj won a penalty in the 79th minute, but Ondrej Kolar saved French striker Billel Omrani left-foot spot kick. In Austria, Linz ASK fell behind to Club Brugge in the eighth minute and despite a late siege of the visitors’ goal, lost 1-0.