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After the penultimate round of the Eredivisie championship in the Netherlands, the country's champions PSV Eindhoven lost their leader position and dropped to third place, as they were unable to defeat Utrecht away. Meanwhile, the closest pursuers AZ Alkmaar and Ajax Amsterdam achieved crushing victories and entered the leaders' group.
After Ibrahim Afellay's goal in the beginning of the match, PSV took the lead, but Alje Schutas equalized the score at the end of the match. Ronaldo Koeman's team could not hold on to the leader position as their closest pursuers secured victories.
Ajax crushed Sparta from Rotterdam 5-2 at home. The capital team started the match very strongly and was already leading 3-0 after 21 minutes with goals from Wesley Sneijder and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar. Later, Sparta managed to soften the score with two goals, but at the end of the match, Ajax scored two more goals, leaving no hope for the visitors.
AZ Alkmaar also won 3-1 at home against Heerenveen, with two goals scored by Simon Cziommer.
After this round, AZ Alkmaar took the lead in the Eredivisie, followed by Ajax and PSV. In the last round, AZ will face Excelsior, Ajax will face Willem II, and PSV will face Vitesse. The champions will automatically have the right to play in the UEFA Champions League. The other eight teams will play in playoff matches for the remaining spot.
Most of the other 33rd round matches ended in draws. However, the match in The Hague between the already relegated Den Haag and Groningen was interrupted due to fan riots, with Groningen leading 3-0.
33rd round results:
Ajax 5 - 2 Sparta
AZ 3 - 1 Heerenveen
Utrecht 1 - 1 PSV
Feyenoord 1 - 1 NEC
Heracles 3 - 2 Excelsior
NAC 0 - 2 Roda
RKC 1 - 1 Willem II
Vitesse 1 - 1 Twente
Den Haag 0 - 3 Groningen (match interrupted)
League table
