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Match Report: Victory at Celtic Park not enough to qualify
for Champions League
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Celtic Park, Glasgow
Wednesday, 22 August 2001 |
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Ajax will not play in this year's Champions League, but will
join the race for the UEFA Cup, despite a honourable, by fits
and starts impressive game at Glasgow's Celtic Park. Celtic FC
humiliated Ajax at the ArenA a fortnight ago, but was now
beaten 0-1, in a game dominated by Ajax from beginning to end.
Wamberto scored the only goal of the night, put in position by
a beautiful backward pass by Arveladze, calmly firing home in
the 30th minute.
"Ajax had nothing to lose and played a fantastic game
today", said Celtic manager, Martin O'Neill, "but we were
brilliant two weeks ago in Amsterdam. We could have scored six
goals there, so we deserved to win on aggregate."
He was exactly right. Ajax did not create as many open
scoring chances as Celtic did two weeks ago. Wamberto missed
one, a few minutes before he was succesful: a good combination
through the middle brought him position, but he miss-hit the
ball, which then trickled wide.
Meanwhile, Arveladze and Yakubu shots brought goalkeeper
Douglas in trouble. After Co Adriaanse had brought Knopper,
Ibrahimovic and Mido on for Machlas, Vierklau and
Bergdølmo, Mido had one more great opportunity to score,
penetrating Celtic's penalty box from the left hand side.
Douglas saved.
By that time, Ajax was playing for 'all or nothing', in need
of two more goals to advance. The final fifteen minutes could
have been extremely hectic if Italian referee, Stefano Braschi,
had seen that a Celtic defender blocked the ball off with both
hands inside the penalty box, while falling on the ground in a
duel with Shota Arveladze.
Surprisingly, Ajax played its best game of the new season in
a somewhat unusual, theoretically defensive 5-3-2 system. Co
Adriaanse had to miss out on Van der Gun, Van der Meyde and
Ikedia, and therefore had no right winger to his availability.
He chose for a system with three central defenders (Chivu,
excellent André Bergd¢lmo and - surprisingly -
Ferdi Vierklau), a midfield consisting of Van der Vaart, Yakubu
and Wamberto as Ajax' unusual 'number ten', playing in central
midfield, directly behind the forward duo, Machlas and
Arveladze.
Whereas Machlas had trouble keeping the ball in possession
and provided his team-mates with (too) many erratic passes, the
short Brazilian played his best ever game for Ajax. The right
and left back positions were occupied by Trabelsi and Maxwell,
defenders in theory, but in practice two indefatigable backs,
midfielders and wingers at the same time.
It worked remarkably well, especially because Ajax seemed
pugnacious and determined, two things the team lacked so badly
in the season's opener against Roda JC. The combination of
intelligent and skillful football and the will to fight turned
out to be the perfect ingredients for Ajax to bend Celtic to
its will, in a first half in which Ajax could and should have
scored a second goal. Celtic's feared strikers, Henryk Larsson
and Chris Sutton, were virtually invisible until the final
minutes of the game, in which Larsson got his one chance to
level the score - but he failed.
During a good half hour, Ajax seemed capable of making the
'Miracle of Glasgow' happen: scoring three goals, to advance.
But in the second half, Celtic - once again inspired by hard
working midfielders Neil Lennon and Paul Lambert - succeeded in
moving the battle from their defense to midfield.
This game provides the Ajax team with the self-confidence
they'll need this Sunday, in the first Dutch 'Classic' of the
season. A thousand Ajax fans, who had travelled to Glasgow for
the game, made themselves heard in the green and white football
temple of Celtic Park, received an ovation from the Celtic
crowd and yelled 'Thank you Ajax' until the impressive stadium
was empty. The mutual respect of Ajax' and Celtic's fans made
this confrontation unforgettably beautiful, even though Ajax
did not qualify for the lucrative league. At least the Ajax
fans now know which team to support in their games against
Juventus, FC Porto and Rosenborg BK.
Ajax themselves will continue in the UEFA Cup. There was an
opportunity to squeeze into the Champions League through the
backdoor. That backdoor turned out to be locked. Too bad, but
not a disaster. The UEFA Cup draw is on Friday. If Ajax can
maintain this level of play and determination on Sunday, in De
Kuip, Ajax fans have reasons to be optimistic. For Feyenoord vs
Ajax - and for the rest of the season. (MP)
GOAL
Referee: Braschi (Italy)
Yellow cards: Yakubu, Van der Vaart, Mido (Ajax)
Attendance: 60,000
Line-up Ajax: Grim; Trabelsi, Vierklau (71. Knopper),
Chivu, Bergd¢lmo (77. Mido), Maxwell; Yakubu, Wamberto,
Van der Vaart; Machlas (66. Ibrahimovic), Arveladze.
Libe-up Celtic: Douglas; Boyd, McNamara (72. Moravcik),
Valgaeren, Agathe; Lambert, Guppy, Lennon, Mjallby; Larsson,
Sutton.
Celtic advance to Champions
League on aggregate (3-2); Ajax to UEFA Cup.
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