Ajax claimed their first Conference League win on Thursday evening. Atalanta spent long spells on the back foot at the Johan Cruyff ArenA, but the Amsterdam side struggled to take their chances. Substitutes Tolu Arokodare and Abdellah Ouazane finally struck to seal a deserved 2-0 victory.
Following last Sunday's 5-2 win over FC Groningen, Ajax kept ten of the same players in their starting line-up. Youri Baas replaced Dies Janse in central defence, while Davy Klaassen again played on the right flank and Marcos Leonardo was preferred to Tolu Arokodare. Atalanta manager Maurizio Sarri chose a 4-2-3-1, with Charles De Ketelaere behind striker Gianluca Scamacca.
Six minutes in, Ajax nearly took the lead when a Lucas Rosa shot deflected onto the post. Klaassen then headed off target before Jorthy Mokio had a goal ruled out because Klaassen was offside in the build-up.
Ajax's neat passing kept the chances coming. Carnesecchi saved a powerful shot from Mokio, while Marcos Leonardo wasted an excellent opportunity by firing wide after a quick counter-attack. The Israeli Oscar Gloukh also had several chances to break the deadlock, but either missed the target or found Carnesecchi in his way.
Scamacca shot wide following a corner as Atalanta showed they could threaten too. Ajax still looked the more dangerous side before the break, with eleven attempts on goal to the Italians' seven. Carnesecchi made four saves, including one to deny Gloukh shortly before half-time.
After the break, Ajax kept pressing for an opener. Carnesecchi denied Julian Brandt from a difficult angle shortly after the restart, and Brandt headed a Rosa cross wide a few minutes later. Rosa then had a golden opportunity of his own, only for the Italian goalkeeper to thwart him too.
Ajax escaped a possible penalty after an hour when Klaassen slid in to challenge Nicola Zalewski inside his own penalty area. Zalewski went down and appealed, but the Croatian referee ruled that the Ajax captain had touched the ball. VAR backed the decision.
With Klaassen and Gloukh making way for Viktor Tsygankov and Abdellah Ouazane, Tolu also came on for the disappointing Marcos Leonardo in the 66th minute. Eleven minutes later, Brandt set up a good chance for Tolu, but the striker struck his own standing leg as he shot and sent the ball over the goal.
Tolu made amends ten minutes later. He controlled a long ball from Baas neatly with his chest, ran clear on goal and kept his cool one-on-one with Carnesecchi to make it 1-0.
From the left flank, Ouazane then dribbled skilfully past his opponent, reached almost to the byline and thumped the ball in off the underside of the crossbar to make it 2-0.
Those substitutes secured Ajax's first three points in the Conference League after the Amsterdam side began their European campaign last week with an embarrassing 2-1 defeat away to Hajduk Split.