Julian Brandt's Stunning Volley and Unusual Reaction

Julian Brandt’s volley was outrageous. His reaction was anything but.

Ajax crushed Fortuna Sittard 5-1 in the Eredivisie, a ruthless response after last week’s domestic setback, and it was the 30-year-old German who lit the fuse with a stunning first-half strike. Yet as the ball ripped into the net, Brandt barely moved.

No knee slide. No roar. Just a man still annoyed with himself.

Brandt’s brilliance, Brandt’s anger

The game had started with a warning. Ole Romeny broke through and forced Marc ter Stegen into a sharp save, the goalkeeper bailing Ajax out before the visitors truly settled.

Then, on 35 minutes, Brandt stepped forward.

A loose ball dropped, and the playmaker met it with a clean, vicious volley to open the scoring and put Ajax in control. Technically perfect, the sort of goal that usually sends a player sprinting to the corner flag.

Not this time.

"I wasn't really happy with my performance in the first half," he told ESPN NL afterwards. He talked about “sloppy balls” and “easy passes” he had wasted before the goal. The strike, he said, was more a release of irritation than a trigger for celebration. That’s why he stayed almost still. That, and the fact he’s “not that typical celebration guy anyway.”

Fortuna bite back, Ajax hit harder

Ajax looked comfortable at the break, but the pattern shifted briefly after half-time. Fortuna Sittard found a foothold and were rewarded when Anthony Descotte levelled, punishing one of those cheap turnovers Brandt would later highlight.

The equaliser jolted Ajax. The response was brutal.

Thilo Kehrer restored the lead, and once the door reopened, Ajax stormed through it. Davy Klaassen added another, Kasper Dolberg joined the party, and Youri Baas completed the rout, turning a potentially awkward afternoon into a statement win.

Brandt felt that in between the goals, Ajax gave Fortuna too much encouragement with careless play in possession. Those “naive” moments, as he called them, allowed the hosts to enjoy short spells of control that better sides will not waste.

"We have moments where we have sloppy mistakes in ball possession, a little bit naive sometimes," he said. With so many new, young players in the squad, he accepted some of it as part of the process, but his warning was clear: keep giving the ball away like that, and future games become far more complicated.

A sharper mind, a fully fit body

If his standards on the ball remain sky-high, Brandt at least feels his body has finally caught up with his demands.

After missing parts of pre-season, he admitted he had been playing catch-up physically. Now, he insists, that phase is over. Recent performance data from matches against PEC Zwolle convinced him he has hit full speed again, with sprint and velocity numbers back where they should be.

"I'm at 100% now," he said. "My physical data, like sprints and velocity, was really good. I'm ready for the busy week in front of us and hungry for more."

Ajax will need that version of Brandt: the one who can unlock games with a single swing of his boot, then tear into his own performance minutes later. If this is what he looks like when he’s unhappy, what happens when everything finally meets his standards?