TONIGHT'S game will be the 10th meeting between
Celtic and Ajax, with the Hoops leading the way on
four wins to Ajax's three. The other two games have
been drawn, including the most recent meeting in
September this year.
The first meeting between the sides came back
in the 1970/71 season when Ajax triumphed 3-1
on aggregate on their way to the first of three
consecutive European Cup triumphs. The Hoops
would prevail on their next meeting, however, winning
2-1 in Amsterdam to go through after a 2-2 draw at
Celtic Park in the first leg.
And in 2001a 3-1 victory in Holland helped to put
Celtic into the group stages of the UEFA Champions
League for the first time in the club's history.
More recently, in 2013/14, both sides won their
respective home games in their group-stage clashes,
again in the UEFA Champions League.
This season's first meeting finished 2-2 and it
should be another close and exciting game tonight.
Both sides are disappointed not to have gained more
points in the UEFA Europa League group so far, but
they are also both aware that the prospect of reaching
the knockout stages of the competition remains very
much alive, though dependent on the outcome of
tonight's match at Celtic Park.
A mainstay of the Ajax defence, the
23-year-old is another successful graduate
of the club's renowned youth set-up.
After making his debut for the first team
in August 2012 as a substitute in a 6-1
win over NEC Nijmegen, he helped Frank
de Boer's side retain the title for a third
successive season and was rewarded with
a new four-year contract. In the following
campaign, he was handed his European
bow at Celtic Park in a 2-1 defeat to the
Scottish champions as the stopper became
a more prominent presence in the team
that made it four championships in a row.
His mature displays saw him earn full
international honours in a friendly against
Columbia in November 2013 and he
was part of the Dutch squad that made
it to the semi-finals of the World Cup
in Brazil. Comfortable on the ball and a
commanding presence in the heart of the
backline, Veltman has been linked with
big-money moves abroad to the likes of
Arsenal, Spurs and Lazio.
