ajax opened the scoring in the third minute when cees de wolf, who was making his debut for ajax, scored. a throw-in by cruyff was headed into the air, liverpool goalkeeper tommy lawrence came to collect the ball. realising he could not reach it, he moved back towards his goal, but de wolf outjumped defender chris lawler to head the ball into the liverpool goal. the conditions were so poor, that the crowd celebrated in stages. those closest to the goal celebrated immediately, while those at the other end of the stadium reacted to these celebrations. liverpool striker hunt had a chance to score in the 12th minute, but his shot was saved by ajax goalkeeper gert bals. following the goal ajax continued to attack, midfielder sjaak swart ran past three liverpool players before passing the ball to klaas nuninga, whose shot was saved by liverpool goalkeeper lawrence. however, lawrence dropped the ball near johan cruyff, who scored to give ajax a 2–0 lead.