Latest news with #WoutWeghorst
Indian Express
20-05-2025
- Sport
- Indian Express
Ajax's Wout Weghorst, who was once called a ‘fool' by Lionel Messi, angrily shoves away camera from face after conceding league to PSV
Wout Weghorst, who is famous for his spat with Lionel Messi in the 2022 World Cup where he was called a fool by the Argentinian after a Netherlands vs Argentina match, grabbed headlines once again when shoved the camera away from himself in a burst of anger in a recent match for Ajax against FC Twente. Weghorst's anger was understandable because Ajax conceded the league title to PSV after a late-season meltdown which couldn't be saved by a win in the final round. PSV retained the title by beating Sparta Rotterdam 3-1, with United States midfielder Malik Tillman scoring the third goal to settle any nerves with Ajax playing — and winning — its match taking place at the same time. Ajax won 2-0 at home to FC Twente but that wasn't enough for the Amsterdam club, which finished a point behind PSV despite holding a nine-point lead with five games remaining. Then Ajax went on a four-match winless run that included two losses and two draws – an epic collapse that allowed PSV to make up the deficit in dramatic fashion and, ultimately, clinch a 26th Eredivisie title. Weghorst die een camera slaat, deze gast is compleet geschift🤣 — F.R🇳🇬 (@Feijenoordert) May 18, 2025 'He sees that I'm in tears and comes to me,' Weghorst said in De Telegraaf. 'That's emotion.' Last Sunday, PSV's title chances looked all but over when the defending champions trailed by two goals after 10 minutes at third-placed Feyenoord. The score was 2-2 before Noa Lang's goal in the ninth minute of stoppage time sealed a 3-2 win. Ajax then slumped to a 3-0 loss at home to mid-table NEC Nijmegen, setting up more late drama Wednesday — when Ajax conceded a goal in the ninth minute of stoppage time at Groningen to draw 2-2. PSV, led by former Ajax coach Peter Bosz, was suddenly in first place — for the first time since February — by a point and that's how it stayed. PSV won its last seven games to capitalize on Ajax's wobble in its first season under 36-year-old coach Francesco Farioli, who was looking to lead the team to a record-extending 37th Eredivisie crown. (With agency inputs)
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Official: Farioli announces Ajax departure after one year – ‘Difference in principles'
Italian tactician Francesco Farioli has announced that he will be leaving Dutch giants Ajax after just one season in charge at the end of the 2024-25 campaign. The 36-year-old head coach has informed Ajax, his staff and players that he will be leaving at the end of the 2024-25 campaign after just one season in charge, the club have confirmed in a statement published on Monday morning. Advertisement Farioli claims that he and Ajax have the same 'vision' for the future, but that they have 'different versions and timeframes about the way we should work and operate to achieve those goals'. BACKA TOPOLA, SERBIA – AUGUST 01: Head coach Francesco Farioli looks on during the UEFA Europa League Second Qualifying Round 2nd leg match between FK Vojvodina and FC Ajax at TSC Arena on August 01, 2024 in Backa Topola, Serbia. (Photo by) Farioli and Ajax finished their 2024-25 season on Sunday with a 2-0 win against FC Twente thanks to goals from Jordan Henderson and Wout Weghorst. The result sealed their second-place finish in the Eredivisie with a tally of 78 from 34 matches, one point shy of eventual champions PSV Eindhoven on 79. Ajax's finish in second place still comes as a disappointment given that they had a nine-point lead at the top of the Eredivisie table with five matches to go, only to suffer a 4-0 loss against Utrecht, a 1-1 draw against Sparta Rotterdam, a 3-0 loss against NEC and a 2-2 draw with Gronningen in four of their last five games of the season. Advertisement Still, their second place finish means that Champions League football will return to the Johan Cruyff Arena in 2025-26, for the first time since the 2022-23 campaign. Farioli announces Ajax departure: 'Difference in principles' 'My journey at Ajax started almost one year ago, at De Toekomst, with the aim of bringing Ajax back to where it belongs,' Farioli said in a statement published on the Ajax club website. Francesco Farioli Ajax 'And it ended at the Johan Cruijff ArenA, finally bringing back Ajax to Champions League, the biggest stage of European football. We wanted to bring new energy to the whole Ajax community, sharing a positive way of working and thinking with the club at all levels.' Advertisement He continued: 'Being Ajax first non-Dutch coach since 1998 and the club's first-ever Italian one have been an absolute privilege: together with my staff we embraced this huge challenge with respect, responsibility, passion and determination to succeed. 'Earning the respect and support from Ajax fans we felt throughout the whole season meant a lot for myself and my staff. We lived unbelievable and unforgettable moments all together: a unique, intense, emotional season in which we shared belief, fighting spirit and pride, finally achieving our goal, accomplishing our mission.' 'The management and I have the same goals for the future of Ajax, but we have different visions and timeframes about the way we should work and operate to achieve those goals. Given these differences in the principles and foundations of the project, I feel deep in my heart that this is the best moment to part ways.' Farioli departure 'incredibly disappointing', says Ajax chief BACKA TOPOLA, SERBIA – AUGUST 01: Head coach Francesco Farioli of Ajax reacts during the UEFA Europa League Second Qualifying Round 2nd leg match between FK Vojvodina and FC Ajax at TSC Arena on August 01, 2024 in Backa Topola, Serbia. (Photo by) Ajax technical director Alex Kroes explained why he finds Farioli's departure 'incredibly disappointing' Advertisement 'I find this incredibly disappointing. Francesco and his staff have been a great help to us. It's been an intense season filled with many memorable moments, and we achieved our goal: qualifying for next season's Champions League,' he explained in a statement. 'Francesco also played a key role in enhancing the high-performance culture at Ajax, for which we are extremely grateful. This summer was already set to be a challenging transfer window, and it has now become even more so. It is up to us to ensure that a strong new coaching team is in place when pre-season preparations begin on 26 June.'
Daily Mail
18-05-2025
- Sport
- Daily Mail
Former Man United forward lashes out by SLAPPING camera after Ajax fall short in Dutch title race as manager breaks down in tears on the pitch
Wout Weghorst was clearly not in a good mood after his Ajax side fell agonisingly short in the Eredivisie title race on Sunday. Goals from Weghorst and captain Jordan Henderson saw Ajax end the season by beating Twente 2-0 in Amsterdam. But that was not enough to see them leapfrog leaders PSV Eindhoven, who sealed their second title in two years by winning 3-1 away at Sparta Rotterdam. Ajax, who have not been champions of the Netherlands since the 2021-22 campaign, ended this season with 78 points, just one fewer than PSV. After Sunday's finale, Ajax's players stood in a line on the pitch, with their arms around each other's shoulders, in front of their home supporters. While this was happening, a camera got too close to Weghorst for the former Manchester United forward's liking and he lashed out. Wout Weghorst head loss after Ajax bottle the league 😳 — The 44 ⚽️ (@The_Forty_Four) May 18, 2025 Weghorst pictured moments before he slapped a camera following Ajax's 2-0 win over Twente Footage obtained by the camera showed that the shot was moving closer to Weghorst when he turned his head and unleashed an angry slap with his right hand. Anger was not the only emotion on display after Sunday's game. After receiving applause from the crowd despite the disappointing outcome, Ajax manager Francesco Farioli burst into tears on the pitch. Farioli, who is said to be among the candidates being considered by Tottenham to replace Ange Postecoglou, later told reporters: 'It's a really hard lesson to learn and it is what it is. I don't have any type of regrets. 'I'm good at seeing the storm before it comes, it's one of my main qualities. I always avoid speaking about things very far before they happen. I know who we are and how much it costs.' He added: 'Let's start to congratulate PSV. They definitely deserved to be where they are. We tried our best to compete and we gave everything that was in our capabilities. 'I am so thankful for this group of players that made us dream. Eleven months ago the walls were white and not with a lot of life. We asked to repaint and put some colours there. Today is complicated to understand what we have inside but in a few weeks everything will be a bit more clear.' Ajax fans might have been dreaming it was going to be their year when ex-Liverpool midfielder Henderson fired them ahead on Sunday with his first-ever goal for the club in the 28th minute. PSV took the lead in Rotterdam at almost precisely the same moment courtesy of former Tottenham star Ivan Perisic. However, Sparta hit back to make it 1-1 early in the second half when Gjivai Zechiel found the net. PSV went back in front through Luuk de Jong just before the hour mark. Then Malik Tillman sealed the victory — and the title — by netting his 15th goal of the season six minutes from full-time. Back in Amsterdam, Weghorst's 10th league goal of the campaign arrived in stoppage time but it was too little, too late. Weghorst joined Ajax from Burnley in August last year. He made just 22 appearances for the Clarets, who loaned him out to Besiktas, Man United and Hoffenheim.
New York Times
18-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Ajax suffered one of the great title chokes – but their fans still saluted them
As the camera operator panned their way down the line of Ajax players stood arm-in-arm, whether it was young Kian Fitz-Jim, almost blubbing with his head bowed, or 41-year-old goalkeeper Remko Pasveer's haunted thousand-yard stare, every other face was a picture of dejection. It was only once the camera finally reached the end of the line that there was also that other understandable emotion of the day: fury. Clearly not ready for his close-up, Wout Weghorst, the former Manchester United striker, spied the camera moving back in out the corner of his eye and swiped at the lens with a right hand, swinging it back on its axis to leave it pointing into the sky. Weghorst kameraya yumruk attı. — FutbolArena (@futbolarena) May 18, 2025 It seemed the perfect postscript to one of the most astonishing late-season collapses ever seen in the Netherlands, or anywhere else for that matter. Just five games ago, Ajax — the most decorated club in Dutch football, and a European powerhouse with four Champions League titles in their gilded history — were nine points clear at the top of the Eredivisie. Seven more were all they required for a 37th top-flight league crown. Even fewer would be needed if PSV failed to win all of their remaining games. Advertisement Anything other than an Ajax title seemed unthinkable. And yet, two defeats and two draws later, not even a final-day victory over FC Twente was enough to salvage the title. No wonder Weghorst was simmering. Ordinarily, Ajax's players may have expected to be met with an equally volcanic response from their fans. Instead, there was a slightly more surprising sentiment in the stands: pride. When head coach Francesco Farioli was pushed forward by Steven Berghuis to receive the appreciation of the infamous ultra group F-side, tears began streaming down his cheeks. The waterworks were still flowing as he embraced captain Jordan Henderson, the former Liverpool midfielder, before leaving the pitch, and started up all over again during his post-match media rounds when asked about those moments. 'It's hard to watch because all of us wanted to dream in the end and we dreamed it, because I know what we put on the pitch. I would love to have a regret, to say: 'F****** hell we should've done something more there or there',' Farioli told ESPN, live on television. 'But I really feel that we squeezed everything.' A similar question in his press conference was initially met with 13 seconds of silence, except the sound of his own sniffling. Ajax's press officer attempted to move the conversation on, but Farioli insisted on answering. 'The feeling and the connection I have with this group of people goes somewhere else, over the line of professional relationship. That's why I think we did something that was unexpected.' Ajax certainly did do something unexpected. The collapse started with a heavy 4-0 defeat in Utrecht on April 20 — only the third time Ajax had lost in the league this season, but perhaps not a total surprise against upwardly mobile opponents. Dropping four points in successive home games against mid-table opponents was less forgivable. If being held 1-1 by Sparta Rotterdam was bad, going down 3-0 to NEC Neijmegen last weekend suddenly made the unthinkable a possibility. PSV's winner in the ninth minute of added-on time at De Kuip in the earlier kick-off that day had not helped, giving Peter Bosz's side the third of five wins they required, increasing the pressure on Farioli and his players. Yet it was another 99th-minute goal that would prove altogether more damaging. Ajax's fate was still in their own hands when they were 2-1 up in the final stages in Groningen on Wednesday night. Then came Thijmen Blokzijl's scrambled equaliser for the hosts — again, in the ninth minute of added-on time. Advertisement For weeks, Farioli had insisted to a disbelieving Dutch public that the title race was not over. 'If I wanted to be wrong about anything, it was on this subject,' he said in the aftermath of the Groningen collapse. 'Unfortunately, I was proven right.' That left the Eredivisie's runaway leaders as of a month ago reliant on results elsewhere on the final day. Only victory over Twente would do, and only then if PSV failed to win away at Sparta. Ajax twice wrestled back their advantage at the top, initially when Henderson scored his first goal in 57 appearances for Ajax, applying the faintest of touches to Youri Regeer's inswinging free-kick. That lasted around 10 seconds. PSV almost immediately went ahead in Rotterdam through Ivan Perisic. Shortly before the break, pockets of noise erupted in the stands celebrating a supposed Sparta equaliser. Not so fast. Tobias Lauritsen's header had actually hit the side netting and an erroneous update on a live scores app had tricked many around the Johan Cruyff Arena. Sparta would equalise through Gjivai Zechiel at the start of the second half, and the celebrations in Amsterdam had Farioli stretching out his arms, pleading for calm among his players. There was little chance of keeping a lid on things minutes later when Weghorst volleyed in to double Ajax's lead. Yet while VAR reviewed a potential Henderson offside in the build-up, Luuk de Jong restored PSV's lead in Rotterdam. Ajax had been knocked off the top for the third time in a week, this time staying there for all of five minutes. Weghorst's goal was eventually ruled out for good measure. Weghorst eventually added a second in the 90th minute, though you would not have known it from his celebration. It was more like the reaction of a centre-forward who had missed a chance, because over the last few weeks, Ajax had wasted the greatest opportunity of all. PSV seized it with relish, celebrating on the streets of their home city of Eindhoven long into the night. Yet when Farioli spoke of doing something 'unexpected' in his press conference, he obviously did not mean this most spectacular of collapses. For this 36-year-old prodigy of his fellow Italian Roberto de Zerbi, the former Brighton & Hove Albion manager now in charge of Marseille, there was pride in coming this far. Advertisement Ajax finished fifth last season, after all, even briefly flirting with the prospect of relegation. Last summer's spending was restrained, despite a clear justification to rebuild. PSV were the pre-season title favourites of many. Even so, Farioli's side clawed back a nine-point deficit to PSV of their own from December onwards, winning 10 games in a row. But even then, Ajax needed every point they could get because of their hugely inferior goal difference — +33 to PSV's +62 before Sunday's deciders. Bosz's side eventually surpassed triple figures in goals scored, 36 more than their nearest title challengers. There was a wide gap in quality on the underlying metrics too. This collapse was far from inevitable, but Farioli would argue that nor was Ajax's title challenge in the first place. 'Eleven months ago when we had our first press conference, to have the feeling we could arrive in the last game of the season and compete with a team 30 points ahead of us was something incredible,' he said. But he was also ready to admit that, ultimately, it all comes down to perspective. Ajax's season can be interpreted as a success from the vantage point of last summer, or a catastrophe from that of five games ago, or from the 98th minute in Groningen on Wednesday night. Farioli's reputation as one of Europe's most highly-rated young coaches will survive it — he was non-committal on his future afterwards amid links to Serie A — but the memories will hurt. In one answer post-match, Farioli revealed that upon arrival, he asked for some drab, blank walls at Ajax's De Komest training ground to be filled with pictures from their victories this season. 'The walls are almost full,' he told ESPN, still tearful. 'Unfortunately, not as full as we wanted.'
The Sun
15-05-2025
- Sport
- The Sun
Jordan Henderson's Ajax choke away title after 99th-minute equaliser – having needed just six points from five games
JORDAN HENDERSON is set to miss out on the Eredivisie title after Ajax suffered the ultimate choke. The Dutch giants saw victory against Groningen snatched away in the 99th-minute. 6 6 6 Ajax had taken the lead through Anton Gaaei but were pegged back by Thom van Bergen in the second half. Former Manchester United and Burnley striker Wout Weghorst would have thought his 68th-minute goal was going to be enough for a vital three points. But it was the ten men of the hosts that struck the heartbreaking goal through Thijmen Blokzijl in the dying seconds of added time. The result sees Ajax fall to second place and one point behind title rivals PSV. Henderson and co were the favourites for their 37th title with just five games left of the season. Ajax needed to pick up just six points to be confirmed as league champions. However, they have stumbled to defeats against Utrecht and NEC as well as a draw with NEC and Groningen before the final game of the season. Peter Bosz's side took full advantage of Ajax's slips to eradicate the nine-point gap, having won their previous six matches. This means that with one game to go, the title is PSV's to throw away. PSV face 11th-placed Sparta Rotterdam while Ajax will take on FC Twente. Furious Jordan Henderson goes off at journalist after being grilled over 'wanting Monaco transfer' 6 Ajax will have to win and hope PSV slip up as their goal difference is significantly worse. After Blokzijl's last-gasp goal fans on social media were left stunned by Ajax's drop off. One posted: "How does Ajax give away a 9-point lead in 4 games? I have no words for it." A second wrote: "Ajax have bottled it what is happening in the Netherlands." A third commented: "In rap battles, we call that choking." A fourth said: "How did Ajax bottle the league title?" Another added: "As a fan, my head would be on Pluto until the last games bc HOW?" 6 6 Footage was captured from the PSV game of the club's supporters and coaches waiting to hear the result of the Ajax match. Many appeared stressed and expecting the Amsterdam-based club to win but were quickly overjoyed when the late goal went in. However, the race is not fully over as Ajax manager Francesco Farioli issued a rallying call. He said: "It's never easy to speak after conceding a last-minute equaliser. "It's not over yet. We've got one more match to play: let's go. "We gave it our all, but unfortunately, it wasn't enough. Still, football teaches us that anything can happen." Henderson, 34, joined Ajax back in January 2024 after leaving Saudi Pro League side Al-Ettifaq. He has been given the captain's armband but is yet to lift a trophy with the club.
