BBC SPORT | Scotland | Ajax brush aside off-colour Celts

Celtic 1-3 Ajax

Celtic slumped to another friendly defeat as the Dutch masters of Ajax took full advantage of a sluggish first-half performance by the Scottish champions.

Three down by half-time, Celtic rallied after the break but could only manage one goal for their efforts.

Manager Martin O'Neill will hope to have his defence at full strength for the start of the league season after a lacklustre display at the back against a formidable Ajax attack.

Celtic's cause got off to a bad start with Alan Thompson having to depart the field injured after only five minutes.

Things took a turn for the worse two minutes later when a deft flick by Rafael van der Vaart found Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who rattled the ball past Rab Douglas from 18 yards.

Alan Thompson injured his left ankle
Alan Thompson was carried off injured
Ajax doubled their tally before 10 minutes had passed - Maxwell and Sutton contested a high ball and it dropped kindly for Mido who volleyed past Douglas from a similar position to the first goal.

The Egyptian Mido added his second and the Dutch side's third in 21 minutes, finishing a delightful passing move from inside the six-yard box.

Ibrahimovic might have had his second five minutes before half-time but the post came to Celtic's rescue after their defence was prised open once again.

Henrik Larsson was, unsurprisingly, Celtic's main threat and after having a goal chopped off for pushing in 15 minutes, he went close on the stroke of half-time with an attempted hitch-kick.

Chris Sutton was pushed forward in the second half and almost scored immediately, only for Lobont to somehow claw his header off the line.

Romanian international defender Christian Chivu
Christian Chivu was immense for Ajax
Celtic were much improved in the second period and Sutton was at the heart of their best moments.

A great piece of skill by David Fernandez brought the home side's first goal, Sutton sliding the ball past Lobont on the turn.

Ajax did not come close to emulating their dominance of the first half and with the inevitable flurry of substitutions, the game became more ragged and, at times, bad tempered.

Sylla should have done better after good work by Petta and Fernandez, while Machlas shot straight at Douglas at the other end.

Lobont again showed his worth in the final minute when he smartly turned a Neil Lennon drive wide.


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