The Dutch giants ran riot in Denmark, scoring five second-half goals to claim an emphatic 6-1 victory against 10-man Midtjylland.
Tolu Arokodare opened the scoring after nine minutes, heading home an Oscar Gloukh delivery to give the visitors an early advantage.
Friday Etim equalised in the 28th minute, but the contest turned in Ajax’s favour when Midtjylland midfielder Kjell Wätjen received his second yellow card shortly before half-time.
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Ajax made their numerical advantage count after the restart.
Arokodare restored their lead in the 52nd minute before Owen Wijndal and Davy Klaassen extended the advantage.
Gloukh added a fifth and substitute Marcos Leonardo completed the rout with eight minutes remaining.
The victory was Ajax’s second successive win in the competition following their opening defeat to Hajduk Split.
Elsewhere, Brighton continued their encouraging European campaign with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Getafe in Spain.
Malick Yalcouye scored the decisive goal in the 64th minute, heading home after Costinha had redirected Pascal Gross’ delivery into the danger area.
Goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen also made several important interventions to help Fabian Hürzeler’s side secure their second victory in three Conference League matches.
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In Switzerland, Hearts suffered a 3-1 defeat away to Thun, leaving the Scottish outfit searching for improvement after a difficult start to the competition.
Freiburg claimed an impressive 1-0 away victory over Trabzonspor, ending the Turkish side’s perfect start to the league phase.
Italian outfit Atalanta were held to a 1-1 draw by Kairat Almaty, while Braga played out a goalless draw against Aarhus in Denmark.
Mjällby continued their unbeaten start with a 2-0 victory against Borac Banja Luka.
There was also a surprise in Gibraltar, where Lincoln Red Imps defeated Croatian side Hajduk Split 1-0.
With three rounds of league-phase matches completed, the battle for places in the knockout stages is beginning to intensify.
Photo: ANP via Getty Images
