Ajax coach Co Adriaanse believes Celtic are the worst possible opponents his side could have been paired with in the Champions League thirdqualifying round.
The Scottish champions now stand in the way of the Dutch outfit's path to the lucrative group stages of the competition and Adriaanse hasalready started the mind games with Bhoys boss Martin O'Neill.
"We are definitely not favourites to win these two legs," he said.
"Celtic won everything in Scotland last year and finished much higher than Glasgow Rangers, a team I think is much better than Ajax.
"They also have a European top scorer in their squad with Henrik Larsson and I still know Bobby Petta and Joos Valgaeren very well. I think thatCeltic are the most difficult opponent we could meet."
Adriaanse has also hit out at some of his stars, claiming they were out of shape for the coming season.
Aaron Winter, Ferdi Vierklau, Cedric van der Gun and Mitchel Pique have all been ordered to report back early to training for extra running.
"Their fat percentage was too high. I know that these extra running sessions don't slim them, but it is the physiological effect that I am lookingfor," he added.
Richard Witschge _ who has spent 10 seasons at the club over two spells _ was singled out for particular criticism and has since announced thathe would leave the club.
"He is no longer part of the squad. Richard did almost nothing in the summer. He was too heavy and could not handle the training sessions," saidAdriaanse.
"Besides, he had too much competition from guys like (Rafael) Van der Vaart, (John) O'Brien, Maxwell (Scherrer), (Christian) Chivu and (Daniel)Cruz. Young players of whom I think very highly."
Asked if he thought Celtic were as worried about the draw as he was, Adriaanse was surprisingly candid.
"I don't think so," he said.
PA