AS Roma secured a crucial 2-1 win away to Ajax in the Europa League quarter-finals on Thursday.We really are entering the business end of Europe's secondary competition now and you'd be forgiven for thinking that the clash at the Johan Cruyff Arena was actually a Champions League tie. And it was the Italians who took a major step towards qualifying for the semi-finals with goals from Lorenzo Pellegrini and Ibañez cancelling out Davy Klaassen's first-half opener.

Ajax 1-2 AS Roma

However, the prevailing story from the game actually surrounded how Roma were so desperate to hold onto victory that they were seen time-wasting during the late stages in Amsterdam.

And that didn't exactly go down well with the Ajax ball boys as a bizarre incident with Riccardo Calafiori started to go viral on social media.

That's because the young Roma star's attempts at killing time were greeted by the Ajax ball boy throwing yet another ball in his direction for seemingly no reason at all.

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Bizarre ball boy incident

With less than one minute left on the clock, Calafiori shepherded the ball out of play for a Roma throw-in on the left flank and was politely thrown a ball by the Ajax youngster as you'd expect.

However, Roma's 18-year-old full-back wasn't interested in the new football, simply dropping it out of his hands, before chasing down the initial ball that had skimmed out of play. Big mistake.

His attempt at time-wasting went down like a lead balloon with the Ajax ball boy who proceeded to launch a ball into the chest area of Calafiori in a moment that really has to be seen to be believed:

Oh my goodness me. What is going on?

A curious exchange

Don't get me wrong, I'm well aware that ball boys are meant to give players, well, balls but the Ajax youngster put some serious welly behind the throw - and Calafiori was clearly livid.

After all, it's the type of thing you imagine seeing on a school playground when people are chanting 'time-waster one, time-waster two' and not in the middle of a Europa League match.

Then again, in a sport that has seen Eden Hazard kick a ball boy during a League Cup semi-final for Chelsea, I guess there are worse things that could have happened than the Ajax shenanigans.

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Besides, the whole throwing-a-ball-at-somebody's-face thing didn't pay off in the end, kids, because Calafiori had the last laugh, leaving Ajax to chase a big result in the Italian capital next week.

And I guess you could say they'll be no time for them to waste.... yeh, I'll see myself out.