Ajax misery deepens with 4-0 defeat in rescheduled 'Klassieker'

Feyenoord striker Santiago Gimenez completed his hat-trick only four minutes after the game was restarted at 55 minutes, the time Sunday's match was called off after Ajax fans hurled flares onto the pitch with their rivals 3-0 up. In reality, nearly three days had elapsed between Gimenez's second and third goals, his hat-trick coming as he bundled in after a goalmouth scramble at a fan-less Johan Cruyff arena.

The loss plunges Ajax deeper into crisis, with the four-time European champions suffering their worst start to a Dutch top-flight season since 1964/5, when their iconic legend Cruyff had just begun in the youth team. Five points from five games leaves Ajax in unfamiliar territory, 14th in the Eredivisie, only two points from the drop and 10 points behind runaway leaders PSV Eindhoven.

Ajax's struggles continue off the pitch as well. The club sacked director of football Sven Mislintat on Sunday just hours after violent scenes at the stadium. Home fans fought running battles with mounted riot police who had to fire tear gas to disperse the crowd. Some fans smashed through the glass doors of the stadium, while the players and officials were kept in their dressing rooms for safety.

Mislintat was under external investigation for a possible conflict of interest over the last-minute transfer in the summer of Croatian international defender Borna Sosa from VfB Stuttgart - where he had once been sporting director. The club denied that the sacking had anything to do with the probe, citing "the lack of broad support within the organisation" as the reason behind the decision.

September 27, 2023