After Ajax and FC Utrecht failed to score in 90 minutes, the two sides drew 1-1 in extra time and needed penalties to decide who would reach the second round of the UEFA Conference League qualifiers.
Ajax goalkeeper Maarten Paes became the hero by saving two penalties, thus sparing Ajax a first season without European football since 1990.
"A penalty shoot-out is always great when you can come out on top. Luckily, I managed to save two," Paes told ESPN following the game.
Paes' first save came after the penalty from Sebastien Haller, who has scored 31 penalties in his career while missing only twice. Paes delved deeply into his research to ensure he was prepared for the Ivorian striker.
"He is obviously a very good penalty-taker. I tried saying a few things to him, and I knew he always makes that save. So if you make a sort of feint, you might be able to influence him. At one point, he looks down and takes the shot. So that’s what I tried to do.
"I think he missed one for Dortmund. So we’d gone quite a long way back in our analysis. And I also remember: I was at Utrecht, of course, and he also missed one against AZ in the penalty shoot-out against Tim Krul. So I’d remembered those two."
For his second save, Paes denied free-kick specialist Souffian El Karouani. “He often takes his free kicks like that. So I thought: he’ll probably take his penalties over his standing leg as well. And with a bit of that curl, too."
'Fantastic day'
Ajax were dumped into the play-offs after disappointingly finishing fifth in the Dutch Eredivisie. Paes said that despite the initial disappointment and Ajax having to play away from home due to Harry Styles' concert tour occupying the Johan Cruyff ArenA, the team only had one goal in mind.
"When you go into the play-offs, you want to win them. And I think we’ve turned these two matches into a real celebration here in Volendam. It’s been fantastic, together with the fans. Thursday was brilliant, and today was too. It’s fantastic that they’ve given us such a boost, despite how the season has gone."