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PREVIOUS MEETINGS
Words: Laura Brannan
1982/83
European Cup first round
First leg
September 15,1982
CELTIC 2 (Nicholas,
AJAX 2 (Olsen, Lerby)
European Cup first round
Second leg
September 29,1982
AJAX 1
CELTIC 21
2000/01
UEFA Champions League
play-off
First leg
August 8,2001
AJAX 1 (Arvetadze 36]
CELTIC 3 (Petta, Agathe, Sutton]
UEFA Champions League
play-off
Second leg
August 22,2001
CELTIC 0
AJAX 1 (Wamberto)
MARTIN O'Neill's second season in charge
saw his side drawn against Ajax in the
UEFA Champions League play-offs, with the
Hoops bidding to reach the group stages of
the competition for the first time,
And on a wonderful night in Amsterdam,
Celtic secured an impressive 3-1 victory over
their Dutch opponents,
Bobby Petta opened the scoring after just
six minutes, and 13 minutes later, Didier
Agathe doubled Celtic's lead,
Shota Averladze pulled a goal back for the
home side, but it wasn't enough to take the
shine off what proved to be Celtic's evening,
Chris Sutton headed home a third shortly
after the restart and dreams of UEFA
Champions League qualification suddenly
became a reality,
In the return leg, Wamberto netted the
only goal of the game but it wasn't enough
to turn around the tie in Ajax's favour, and
it was Celtic who progressed to the group
stages of the competition, where they
would face Juventus, Porto and Rosenborg.
CELTIC were drawn against Ajax in the first The Hoops suffered the worst possible start,
round of the European Cup, who had the conceding a goal just four minutes into the
legendary johan Cruyff back in their ranks, and first leg. Charlie Nicholas' 14th minute penalty
a frantic first leg at Celtic Park saw the sides cancelled out Jesper Olsen's strike, though,
share the spoils in a four-goal thriller, before Soren Lerby scored for Ajax again after
18 minutes, Nine minutes later, Frank
McGarvey equalised,
In the return leg, Celtic took the lead
just after the half-hour mark courtesy
of a wonderful goal from Charlie
Nicholas, but Ajax levelled the game on
65 minutes through Gerald Vanenburg,
With the game heading into the
last couple of minutes, and Ajax set
to go through on the away goals
rule, substitute George McCluskey
dramatically fired home the winning
goal to put the Hoops through to the
next round,
Charlie Nicholas scores in the home leg
