Ajax sink Inter, Gerrard off as Liverpool lose ( 2003-08-04 09:38) (Agencies)
Hosts Ajax Amsterdam beat Inter Milan 3-0 on Sunday to win the Amsterdam
tournament for the third consecutive year.
Steven Pienaar, Rafael van der Vaart and Wamberto hit Ajax's goals in an
impressive performance by Ronald Koeman's side.
Hesky [L] strikes against Turkey's
Galatasaray.
Earlier, Liverpool had England midfielder Steven Gerrard and striker Neil
Mellor sent off in a 2-1 defeat by Turkey's Galatasaray.
Ajax, who drew 0-0 with Liverpool on Friday, went ahead four minutes into the
second half when Van der Vaart fed Pienaar and the South African fired past
Francesco Toldo.
Seven minutes later Van der Vaart increased the lead. Ajax's 20-year-old
captain gave Toldo no chance after Pienaar knocked back a cross from substitute
Jari Litmanen.
Former Ajax winger Andy van der Meyde, who signed for Inter earlier this
month, went close to pulling a goal back but fired narrowly over from a good
position.
Wamberto put the gloss on the win when he was unselfishly set up by Van der
Vaart to net a third in stoppage time.
Ajax were deemed winners of the tournament with rules giving three points for
a win, one for a draw and a point for every goal scored.
Galatasaray secured victory over Liverpool with two well-taken goals as the
English premier league side finished the game with nine men, Mellor and Gerrard
dismissed in the last five minutes of a bad-tempered game.
Mellor was handed a straight red card for clattering into Gabriel Tamas,
while Gerrard followed 60 seconds later for dissent.
Liverpool boss Gerard Houllier said he did not expect either player to be
banned because the match was a friendly.
"The only good thing about tonight is that the red cards won't have any
consequences," Houllier told reporters.
"We didn't play so well and showed rather tired in this phase of the
pre-season."
Brazilian midfielder Joao Batista had fired the Turkish side on 21 minutes
ahead before England striker Emile Heskey equalised with a header on 36. Cesar
Prates thumped home the winner six minutes before halftime with a superb free
kick.