It was graduation day here in Turin and Ajax produced another coming-of-age performance to advance to the semi-finals after Cristiano Ronaldo had threatened to lecture the upstarts in the competition that has become his specialist subject.
When the Juventus star scored his 126th Champions League goal in the first half it seemed unimaginable that he would not remain the only reigning champion in this season’s renewal.
But Ajax — conquerors of holders Real Madrid in the last round — were never going to surrender to convention and thanks to goals from Donny van de Beek, 21, and captain Matthijs de Ligt, just 19, it is they who will face the winners of Manchester and Spurs in the last four.
Dutch giants Ajax defied the odds to knock Juventus out of the Champions League at the quarter-final stage on Tuesday
Ajax wonderkid Matthijs de Ligt scored a fine headed winner in Turn to send shockwaves through the rest of Europe
Juventus had got off to a good start when Cristiano Ronaldo (left) scored the game's opening goal inside the first half an hour
But Ajax hit back swiftly when midfielder Donny van de Beek netted an away goal to square the tie up at 2-2 on aggregate
Ronaldo and thousands of Juventus fans looked stunned after Ajax scored their second away goal to take control of the tie
Juventus XI: Szczesny; De Sciglio (Cancelo 64), Bonucci, Rugani, Sandro; Can, Pjanic, Matuidi; Bernardeschi (Bentancur 80), Dybala (Kean 46), Ronaldo
Subs: Barzagli, Khedira, Pinsoglio, Spinazzola
Goal: Ronaldo 28
Booked: Can, Ronaldo
Ajax XI: Onana; Veltman, De Ligt, Blind, Mazraoui (Sinkgraven 11, Magallan 82); Schone, De Jong; Ziyech (Huntelaar 88), Van de Beek, Neres; Tadic
Subs: De Wit, Dolberg, Varela, Ekkelenkamp
Goal: Van de Beek 34, De Ligt 67
Ajax played out from the back and the move which led to Donny van de Beek's goal started with goalkeeper Andre Onana (No 24)
For more stats and maps visit Sportsmail's Match Zone.
This contest hardly needed any added hype but rarely has monochrome been as colourful as it was in the minutes before kick off, 40,000 perfectly choreographed black-and-white flags whipped and whirled in anticipation amid a cauldron of noise.
So what followed during a scrappy and tense opening was something of a let-down. Even Ronaldo was subdued.
Meanwhile, in Barcelona, Lionel Messi had scored twice inside 20 minutes and that news was duly relayed on the giant screens. Was the purpose to provoke a response from his old La Liga adversary? If so, it worked.
Ajax boss Erik ten Hag said on the eve of the game that he would not worry
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