Ajax win mammoth 34 penalty slog against Panathinaikos as 40 year old keeper is Europa League hero

34 penalties and over 25 minutes of shootout drama.

Yes, you read that correctly. That was what the Europa League third qualifying round served up last night as two big names in club football went head to head in the fight to reach the play-off round. These two would probably expect this kind of encounter to arrive in the group stage of a European competition but here they both were slugging it out two qualifying rounds before the big time in a bid to book a spot in the newly revamped league format.

The teams in question? Ajax and Panathinaikos. It was a night of drama with the Dutch giants returning home with a 1-0 advantage from the first meeting in Greece. It all looked like it was going to script for the hosts before some last-gasp drama saw the visitors take the lead in the 89th minute of the match through Tete to level the tie and force an additional 30 minutes. That quickly passed and it was onto the lottery of spot-kicks and NO ONE would have been able to write this script.

Former Liverpool skipper Jordan Henderson and his troops emerged victorious after a whirlwind evening of drama with 34 penalties shared between the two sides. Ajax would win 13-12 in the end meaning that NINE penalties in total didn't hit the back of the net.

Even more incredibly it was 40-YEAR-OLD Remko Pasveer who was the hero as he kept out the Greek side five times. Quite an incredible evening for the veteran who make sure Ajax advanced to face Jagiellonia Białystok in the final hurdle. The winners in the play-off book Europa League proper while the team losing at this stage will drop into the Europa Conference League. It means Ajax have guaranteed football on the European stage for their fans this season.

These nights don't often