Ajax suffered another night of misery in Europe as Chelsea put on a five-star display to send the Amsterdammers to the bottom of the Champions League table.

Kenneth Taylor’s dismissal after 17 minutes, which was immediately followed by the opening goal, effectively ended the game as a contest and left coach John Heitinga staring into the abyss.

German referee Felix Zwayer initially gave Taylor a yellow card for his tackle on Facundo Buonanotte, but upgraded it to red after a video review.

Chelsea took full advantage from the resulting free-kick as Marc Guiu headed in Wesley Fofana’s in-swinger, and doubled their lead 10 minutes later when Moises Caicedo’s shot was diverted into the net by Josip Sutalo.

The London side were out of sight by half-time, despite Wout Weghorst briefly reducing the arrears with a 33rd-minute penalty.

The striker was penalised in turn for a tackle in his own area just before half-time, allowing Chelsea captain Enzo Fernandez to score from the pot. And deep in injury time Estevão scored yet another penalty after going down under the challenge of Youri Bass.

Three minutes after the break substitute Tyrique George, replacing Guiu, found the net with a deflected shot, but a rout was averted, largely thanks to a defiant performance by 42-year-old Remko Pasveer in the Ajax goal.

The result leaves Ajax as one of two clubs without a point from their opening three matches and needing a win from their next match against Galatasaray in Istanbul on November 4 to retain any hope of progressing.