Cristiano Ronaldo scored the 125th Champions League goal of his career but it wasn’t enough to give Juventus victory as an impressive Ajax pegged back the Italian champion in Amsterdam.
Ronaldo headed home Joao Cancelo’s cross on the stroke of half time to add to his tally as the competition’s all-time top goalscorer.
However, David Neres curled home for the hosts at the beginning of the second period to leave the quarterfinal tie delicately poised at 1-1.
Ronaldo, who was playing for the first time since scoring a hat-trick against Atletico Madrid in last month’s round of 16, celebrated his goal in front of Ajax fans and appeared to have a beer cup thrown in his direction from the crowd.
The buildup to the hotly anticipated game had been overshadowed by crowd trouble in Amsterdam with Dutch police reporting that more than 140 people were arrested earlier in the day.
A police statement said that a number of weapons as well as flares and fireworks were seized from supporters in the city’s metro and on the approach to the stadium.
Most of those arrested were Italian, police said.
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Ajax will feel unfortunate not to take a lead into the second leg next week after dominating for large spells of the game and creating a number of decent chances.
However, Douglas Costa also came close for Juventus, striking the post in the second period.