Real overcomes Ajax

With a little help from the video assistant referee, defending champion Real Madrid overcame a spirited Ajax to win the first leg of its Champions League round-of-16 match 2-1 on Wednesday and take a big step toward the quarterfinals.

Substitute Marco Asensio scored a late winner to put Madrid in a strong position going into the second leg on March 5.

Real, winner of the last three Champions Leagues, recovered in the second half after being outplayed by underdog Ajax before the break at a packed Johan Cruyff Arena, when the hosts had a goal disallowed by VAR - the first time the video referee had overturned a Champions League goal.

Asensio, a 73rd-minute substitute, was unmarked at the far post as he tapped in a cross from the right by Dani Cavajal with just three minutes of regulation time to go.

“He’s shown his development as a player,” Madrid coach Santiago Solari said. “He did everything he had to do from the moment he came into the pitch. Not only the goal, which of course was very important for us.”

Ajax had looked on course for a draw when Hakim Ziyech shot under Thibaut Courtois in the 75th minute to cancel out Karim Benzema’s opener 15 minutes earlier.

The Amsterdam team went into Wednesday’s match in something of a form crisis since the Dutch league’s winter break. Their previously solid defense crumbled late last month in a 6-2 defeat to archrival Feyenoord and Erik ten Hag’s team slumped to a 1-0 defeat on Saturday to Heracles Almelo.

But Ajax shook off its winter form dip before the break, pressing Madrid high up the pitch, combining well with slick, short passes and looking like the team that qualified second in its group behind Bayern Munich rather than the one that struggled in recent weeks. /