Ajax have run out 4-1 winners against Lyon at the Johan Cruyff ArenA this evening to ensure a healthy lead heading into next week's Europa League semi-final second-leg tie.
The energetic Dutch outfit recovered from a slow start and bagged four goals on the night, two of which came through Chelsea loanee Bertrand Traore either side of half time.
A Mathieu Valbuena strike did give the French visitors a little hope at 3-0, but Petr Bosz's men proved too strong and are now heavy favourites to make it through to the final.
Competing in the semi-final of a major European competition for just the third time, Lyon started the brighter of the two teams and fashioned a good chance following some smart link-up play between Christophe Jallet and Lucas Tousart down the right.
The former did well to spot Maxwel Cornet, who was unable to sneak the ball through the legs of Andre Onana in the Ajax goal.
That may have been as good as things got for the French side in the first half, but for the opening quarter of the match they restricted their opponents to just a Matthijs De Litt strike on goal from distance.
The momentum of the match changed completely when, from a Hakim Ziyech free kick, Traore got the faintest of touches to the ball to help it past Anthony Lopes and into the far corner of the net.
Ajax were suddenly a side transformed, constantly closing down the visitors and being rewarded with a second 34 minutes in after a slack Lopes clearance was nodded into the path of Kasper Dolberg by Traore.
Dolberg was through on goal but still had plenty to do, superbly firing past the Lyon stopper using the outside of his boot to ensure that it found the target.
It should have been tie over on the brink of half time, only for Lopes to keep out Amin Younes down low from a one-on-one, but Younes had to wait just three minutes of the second half before bagging that killer goal.
After eventually getting the shot away once cutting inside, Younes unconvincingly found the target despite the best efforts of Nicolas N'Koulou on the line.
Nabil Fekir, leading the line from the off in the absence of top-scoring striker Alexandre Lacazette, came close with a curled effort and Dolberg likewise at the other end, both testing the respective keepers.
Lyon then grabbed what appeared to be a huge lifeline, scoring an away goal through Valbuena's controlled finish past Lopes 66 minutes into the match.
Fekir squandered a glorious chance to add a second for his side soon after, failing to get the ball past the big frame of Onana, and that proved a pivotal moment as Traore tapped home his second from a Ziyech cross a little over two minutes later.
It was proving to be the most open of first legs heading into the final 15 minutes, with Rafael's belter kept out at one end and Younes again falling short when picked out in a good position inside the area.
Next to test Lopes was De Ligt with another shot from range, with that proving to be the closest either side came to adding to the scoring in the closing stages.
Daniel Lewis
