Ajax 5-1 Celtic: Berghuis brace seals Como Cup final spot

Steven Berghuis scored twice as Ajax booked their spot in the Como Cup final with a 5-1 rout of Scottish Premiership champions Celtic.

In Johnny Heitinga’s fourth game at the helm, his team put on a ruthless display to set up a clash with Cesc Fabregas’ Como in Sunday’s showpiece match.

Despite a strong start from Brendan Rodgers’ team, Ajax took the lead in the 16th minute when Berghuis brilliantly picked out the bottom-left corner with a fine curling effort.

But Celtic drew level five minutes later when a lightning counter-attack ended with Reo Hatate unselfishly squaring the ball for Yang Hyun-Jun to fire low into the net.

However, Ajax restored their lead two minutes after the break through Davy Klaassen, who was the quickest to react to Mika Godts’ effort being parried by Kasper Schmeichel.

Berghuis then put the result beyond doubt after Ajax capitalised on a poor pass from Benjamin Nygren, with Klassen finding his compatriot in the box to finish with aplomb.

But the best was still to come from the Eredivisie outfit, whose pre-match preparations were dominated by the news of Jorell Hato’s reported switch to Chelsea.

Youngster Aaron Bouwman took his place in central defence, and he rounded off a commanding display with a stunning effort from 25 yards that grazed the underside of the crossbar on its way in.

The rout was completed seven minutes from time with another spectacular strike, this time from substitute Rayane Bounida, who picked out the bottom-left corner from distance.

See you in the #ComoCup final, @Como_1907! pic.twitter.com/S5y5uPmco1

— AFC Ajax (@AFCAjax) July 24, 2025

Data Debrief: Ajax’s cutting edge slices Celtic

While the scoreline suggests a comfortable outing for Ajax, Celtic could take positives from a contest that was decided by each team’s individual quality in the final third.

Celtic ended the game with an expected goals (xG) total of 1.66 from their 13 shots, compared to Ajax’s 1.32 from their 14 attempts, though the experience of Berghuis ultimately told as his two goals came from an xG of just 0.55.

The 33-year-old ended the game with team-high totals for shots (three), touches in the opposition box (seven) and final-third entries (eight), with only Anton Gaaei (two) completing more dribbles than the Dutchman (one).