The Eredivisie ended in a dramatic way but Ajax lost.
The KNVB Cup ended dramatically too but Ajax won only after 16 penalties:
On 22 May 1996 Edgar Davids missed a penalty for Ajax in Rome – and it wasn’t an unimportant one: Ajax’s first in the shoot-out of the Champions League final against Juventus in Rome. Ajax lost the shoot-out: 2-4. Davids’ miss marked the start of Ajax’s 2-4 collapse. The ‘pitbull’ of Louis van Gaal’s golden Ajax team knew that he would leave Ajax for AC Milan that summer and would have given his left arm for a more succesful last ball contact as an Ajacied…
Almost eleven years later, on 06 May 2007, Edgar Davids once again stepped forward for a penalty. This time it wasn’t Rome but Rotterdam. This time the goalkeeper wasn’t Juventus’ Angelo Peruzzi but AZ’s Khalid Sinouh. This time it wasn’t the first, but the 16th and possibly last of the shoot-out. This time Louis van Gaal wasn’t Davids’ coach, but his opponent. And… this time Edgar Davids didn’t fail: he made it 7-8, just after AZ defender Ryan Donk had missed the 15th in a long series of 16 near-perfect spotkicks, and gave Ajax their 17th Dutch cup in club history. “This feels like a new beginning,” the Ajax veteran said after official ceremony on the pitch of De Kuip. [Ajax claim KNVB Cup after 120 minutes and 16 penalties. AjaxUSA. May 7 2007]
Poor AZ. Poor Van Gaal. Sincerely. I would rather have AZ won the Eredivisie instead of PSV. But do enjoy the victory, humbly:
Enjoy the Cup.
