1-0 to Ajax in the first match. 1-0 to Panathinaikos in the second match. This meant that Thursday evening's return match in Amsterdam went to penalties.
A penalty shootout that never seemed to end.
It wasn't until Ajax's 17th penalty that the decision was made – after 25 minutes of penalty shootout.
Dane Anton Gaaei calmly placed the ball, and Ajax won. A total of 34 penalties were taken, and the result of the penalty shootout was 13-12 in favor of Ajax. It went so far that both teams' goalkeepers had to shoot – and became goal scorers. Moreover, Panathinaikos' Swedish player Alexander Jeremejeff managed to shoot two penalties and score two goals.
"A crazy match," says Ajax goalkeeper Remko Pasveer to the club's website.
According to ESPN, the 34 penalties are a record in a competition organized by the European Football Association (Uefa). The previous longest Uefa penalty shootout was during the U21 European Championship in 2007, when the Netherlands defeated England 13-12 after 32 penalties.
The world record comes from earlier this year in May, when a playoff match in Israel's third league was decided on the 56th penalty, according to ESPN.
