O'Neill: Celtic could have had six

13 April 2012

Celtic manager Martin O'Neill described his side's 3-1 win at Ajax in the Champions League qualifier last night as 'immense'.

Bobby Petta, Didier Agathe and the impressive Chris Sutton scored the goals but O'Neill claimed his Scottish champions could have scored more in the Amsterdam ArenA.

O'Neill said: 'We should have had six today.The lads were immense and deserve all the credit in the world. They were so powerful and so precise and their football was sensational.'

Ajax boss Co Adriaanse admitted his side were outclassed, but believes the tie is not over yet. He said:'We were taught a lesson in football and they proved they are a very good team.

'But it's possible to still go through - everything's possible in football.'

With the support of 8,000 travelling fans roaring Celtic on, former Feyenoord and Ipswich winger Bobby Petta put them in front in the seventh minute after home goalkeeper Fred Grim fumbled a cross-shot by Chris Sutton.

Celtic added a second in the 20th minute. Henrik Larsson, who had seen a header come back off the underside of the bar, spotted Didier Agathe on the right and the Frenchman raced clear of Cristian Chivu before firing past Grim.

Ajax hit back in the 40th minute when Robert Douglas could only parry a Nikos Machlas shot and Shota Arveladze followed up.

But Celtic restored their two-goal advantage in the 55th minute after Agathe broke down the right and crossed for Sutton to score.

While Celtic stand on the verge of the lucrative league stage, arch-rivals Rangers have it all to do after a bad-tempered 0-0 draw at Ibrox with Turkish champions Fenerbahce. Robbed by injury of captain Barry Ferguson, Lorenzo Amoruso, Christian Nerlinger, Ronald de Boer and Claudio Reyna, Rangers had striker Michael Mols sent off after 58 minutes.

Ibrox boss Dick Advocaat was furious with referee Urs Meier over the dismissal. The Swiss sent off Mols but showed only a yellow card to Fenerbahce goalkeeper Rustu Recber, who had raced across the pitch to fell the Dutchman. Mols had kicked Samuel Johnson off the ball after the pair had clashed moments earlier.

Advocaat said:'If he had to send one off then he had to send off both.To send off just one was the easiest option.' Despite Rangers being restricted to long-range efforts Advocaat believes his side can go through in Turkey - even though Fenerbahce have won their last 17 home games.

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O'Neill: Celtic could have had six

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