Liverpool vs. Ajax score: Andre Onana blunder sends Jurgen Klopp's side into last 16

Liverpool qualifies for last 16 with a match to spare

A catastrophic error from Andre Onana handed Liverpool top spot in Champions League Group D and left Ajax needing to win their final group game to qualify.

The Eredivisie leaders had been dominating possession and creating a string of dangerous chances against Liverpool before their goalkeeper utterly failed to read Neco Williams' cross, allowing Curtis Jones to ghost in at the back post and volley home the winner.

An acrobatic late save from Caoimhin Kelleher, in for the injured Alisson Becker, off Klaas-Jan Huntelaar's close range header was enough to secure victory for Liverpool and with it passage to the last 16.

Recap the key points from the game below

Jones keeping up with Liverpool's big names

Injuries have of handed Curtis Jones a more expanded role than he might reasonably have expected but it is still impressive how swiftly the 19-year-old's presence on a team sheet has become par for the course. Jones has started five of Liverpool's last seven games and for most of this he scarcely stood out in any significant way.

That might not feel like a glowing endorsement of a young player but it ought to be. Jones has slotted into a position that might otherwise have been reserved for the likes of Thiago or Naby Keita and you scarcely feel like Liverpool are losing much for trusting a teenager.

If there has been a notable aspect to Jones' game it has been his commitment to getting higher up the pitch than the likes of Georginio Wijnaldum and Jordan Henderson might. In four games he has taken six shots, more than any other Liverpool midfielder, and he came exceptionally close to opening his European account with a curled effort from the edge of the box that clattered off the post.

Still that commitment to getting high up the pitch paid dividends when Onana made his critical error. If you were to make a case in defense of the Ajax goalkeeper you might suggest that with Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane ahead of him he might reasonably have assumed there was no other Liverpool dangerman to consider. And while a mistake like that inevitably draws more attention than the finish, it was still a tight angle indeed a chance well-taken.

Those four words rather typify what Jones has achieved so far this season. He might never have expected to get quite as many opportunities as he has but they have been emphatically seized. The greatest compliment one could pay this youngster is that it is when the big names return it ought to not be certain that it is Jones that makes way.

Defensive excellence undone with moment of madness

This was supposed to be a goalfest, Liverpool's explosive front three spearheaded by a free-scoring Diogo Jota pitted against an Ajax side with 49 goals in 14 games this season.

After taking a look at the expected goals (xG) tally from the first half you would never have imagined how engaging and absorbing this contest was. Liverpool registered 0.24 xG, Ajax 0.2 xG.

Yet there was nothing to criticize about the build-up play or attacking endeavor of both sides. Ajax were on occasion attacking with eight players, Liverpool frequently looked like punishing this commitment to swashbuckling with direct counter-attacking. Yet Ajax did just about enough. 

This was not excellent defending as we might traditionally think of it, the visitors were not stopping attacks at their source or suffocating Liverpool high up the pitch. Instead the excellent Perr Schuurs and Edson Alvarez largely judged a string of last man tackles to perfection, last man defending done just right.

Typical of an impressive defensive performance from the visitors was Noussair Mazraoui's hooked tackle on Sadio Mane early in the second half. Jordan Henderson had found the Liverpool No.10 with a curling pass from the right channel into a central spot. Out of nowhere the Ajax right-back darted in to whip a boot around the forward. You suspect more often than not such last gasp defending against a player like Mane ends with a foul or a missed tackle, but it was working.

It was then all the more ironic that having got so much difficult defending so right Onana, who had oozed composure in possession, got the most basic of catches woefully wrong. Other than him simply losing his sense of the game around him, there is no explanation for his failure to even jump in the direction of Williams' cross.

Injuries pile up for Liverpool

This is proving to be utterly remorseless for Klopp's side. Caoimhin Kelleher came into the side with Alisson having damaged his hamstring during the draw at Brighton, an injury that could sideline the Brazilian for what promises to be a challenging game against Wolverhampton Wanderers as well as other fixtures.

"He told us after the [Brighton] game that he felt in the 60th, 70th minute his hamstring," the Liverpool boss told BT Sport. "We did a scan, it's a little one but enough for today and probably for another week, we'll have to see. I've never heard about a hamstring [injury] that's only four or five days so it will be 10-14 days I think."

You might yet need to add Andy Robertson to the mix with the left-back requiring several breaks in the first half as he appeared to need strapping on his ankle. Klopp will argue that the rash of injuries, most of them muscular, his side have faced are an inevitable result of a fixture list that has left them without a free midweek since mid-September.

That will be perhaps the most significant factor behind this spate of issues but Klopp perhaps ought to assess whether he might have done more to ease the injury burden on his squad. Trent Alexander-Arnold missed just nine minutes of Premier League and Champions League football before his calf problem. James Milner started three games in a week before his hamstring went late on in the Brighton draw.

Is this just a vicious circle, the harsh fact that when one or two Liverpool players go down Klopp has to ride those he has left that much harder and introduce greater risk of further injury? Perhaps but when the likes of Divock Origi and Takumi Minamino played so few minutes for so long it is fair to ask whether different methods might have eased the burden on this depleted squad.

Notable performances

Perr Schuurs: At just 21 years of age the young centre-back looks like he has been dealing with forwards like Salah and Mane for half his life. Schuurs has an impressive burst of pace if opponents get the other side of him and is not afraid to get rid if pressure comes his way. RATING: 8

Fabinho: The Brazilian radiates authority at the base of defence. He rarely gives the ball away; by his standards an 87 percent pass completion rate seemed rather underwhelming but many of those occasions where he did concede possession resulted from him playing the sort of dangerous long balls that asked questions of the Ajax defence. RATING: 7

State of play

The three points for Liverpool guarantee them top spot in Group D whilst Ajax are now a point behind Atalanta after the Italian side were held to a draw with Midtylland.

Ajax and Atalanta meet at the Johan Cruyff Arena next Wednesday with the hosts needing a win to qualify for the knockout rounds.

Relive all the action from the game below

Liverpool 1-0 Ajax

[Dec 1, 2020 at 4:48 pm ET · James Benge]

Exceptional football all around there. Antony delivers a wonderful ball to Huntelaar, who meets it firmly, but Kelleher dives acrobatically to push the ball to safety. He looks a little sheepish as he gets up to face the corner, presumably reluctant to get carried away as Ajax ready themselves to hurl the kitchen sink in the direction of the Liverpool goal.

[Dec 1, 2020 at 4:40 pm ET · James Benge]

Losing Neres is a major blow here for Ajax, he has been giving Williams all sorts of trouble down the Liverpool right. Still Traore is going to give Matip and Fabinho all sorts of difficulties with his mobility and height - this could be a fun end to the game.

[Dec 1, 2020 at 4:31 pm ET · James Benge]

Credit to Onana, after that bizarre error in which he completely lost the flight of the ball he might have lost all confidence. But no, he is still passing the ball to any of his defenders, no matter the pressure they're under. Blind might not entirely appreciate being played into such pressure when he punts the ball straight at Henderson but you have to admire Ajax's commitment to playing the right way.