Frankfurt thrashes Ajax to move into Europa League quarterfinals

BERLIN, March 14 (Xinhua) -- Eintracht Frankfurt booked its place in the UEFA Europa League quarterfinals with an emphatic 4-1 win over Ajax, sealing a 6-2 aggregate victory on Thursday.

Frankfurt went into the game with a narrow 2-1 lead from the first leg but wasted no time in asserting dominance in front of a passionate home crowd.

The hosts struck early through Jean-Matteo Bahoya, who finished off an exchange with Hugo Ekitike in the seventh minute. Ekitike's clever turn and precise pass split the Ajax defence, allowing Bahoya to finish at the near post.

Frankfurt doubled the lead midway through the first half when Mario Gotze latched onto a long ball from Robin Koch and calmly slotted past Ajax goalkeeper Matheus Magalhaes to make it 2-0.

Frankfurt continued to press and almost added a third through Rasmus Kristensen, whose shot forced Matheus into a save.

Ajax responded with a late burst of pressure, with Davy Klaassen and Steven Berghuis testing Frankfurt's back-up goalkeeper Kaua Santos.

The second half began with Ajax pushing for a way back, but Frankfurt remained compact and dangerous on the counterattack.

Ekitike went close in the 50th minute after a quick break by Ansgar Knauff. The Frenchman finally got on the scoresheet in the 65th minute with a fine individual effort, beating two defenders before slotting past Matheus to make it 3-0.

Ajax's hopes were briefly revived when substitute Kenneth Taylor fired home from the edge of the area to make it 3-1 in the 69th minute.

However, Frankfurt put the tie to bed 10 minutes later as Gotze scored his second of the night. With Matheus off his line, Gotze fired home from 40 meters to complete his brace.

Knauff almost made it five in the dying minutes but was denied by Matheus in a one-on-one.

Frankfurt's comprehensive performance sees the Eagles comfortably through to the last eight and continue its strong European campaign.

"We can call it a perfect night. From the very first minute, we played with intensity and delivered a strong performance over the full 90 minutes. Maybe [Sunday's] loss against Union [Berlin] was the lesson we needed to make it through today," said Frankfurt coach Dino Toppmoller. ■