When the German referee Tobias Stieler blew the whistle to start the match, Prudhomme's brow never relaxed for a moment. He stood in the technical area, tense and uneasy throughout.
On the pitch, the young Ajax side charged at Standard Liège like a tiger descending a mountain from the instant the whistle sounded.
Ajax looked fierce and fearless, while the home side, Standard Liège, focused more on stability in the opening stages. They deliberately avoided meeting the visitors head-on, hoping to let Ajax's initial onslaught run its course before gradually looking for chances to counterattack.
Ajax deployed a High Press, pushing up all three lines, from attack through midfield to defense. This caused Standard Liège enormous trouble. Whenever they won the ball, Ajax immediately pressed them high up the pitch.
As a result, Standard Liège looked decidedly passive.
Yet the first shot of the match came from the home side. Their captain, Mbokou, tried his luck from distance in the left channel, but rather than threaten Ajax's goal, he blasted the ball high over the bar.
Ajax had plenty of problems of their own. They seemed to have seized the initiative and controlled the play, but they could not turn that advantage into a threat in the final third. They had not even managed a shot for some time, which made things difficult.
Standard Liège, meanwhile, kept launching counterattacks. Although they failed to create any real danger either, at least they had more shots.
Just as Yang Yang gave Xabi Alonso a helpless, wry smile on the touchline, the breakthrough finally came.
In the sixteenth minute, Ajax surged forward in a quick attack.
Ndombele suddenly drove forward with the ball, then quickly passed to Jović, who had dropped to the edge of the penalty area to offer an outlet.
Jović