Schone’s lone strike leaves Celtic looking elsewhere for their salvation

Celtic's best news of the night was delivered from Barcelona rather than Amsterdam. A defeat for Milan in the Camp Nou keeps Neil Lennon's hopes of guiding Celtic to the last 16 once again alive but the Scottish champions were deservedly defeated here.

Celtic know they must beat Milan in Glasgow and almost certainly take tangible reward from December’s trip to Barcelona.

For either scenario to occur, Celtic must improve on the lack of both belief and talent in forward areas that allowed Ajax to defend their single goal lead.

The strength of the pre-match atmosphere, boosted further by the closed ArenA roof, highlighted how significant a game this was for Ajax.

Two meetings with Celtic have also served to highlight the moronic element which attaches itself to the Dutch champions. Before kick-off here, a large banner bearing the offensive slogan “fenian bastards” was produced behind one goal.

Not that Celtic's support proved themselves paragons of virtue; verse about Frank De Boer, an ex-Rangers player, being a "sad orange bastard" proving some people are unwilling to step into the 21st century.

It would have been unreasonable to grudge Ajax the winning goal. Lasse Schone worked an intricate one-two with De Jong on the edge of the visitors' penalty area. Forster came out to meet Schone, who calmly slotted the ball through the goalkeeper's legs.–
Guardian Service
AJAX: Cillessen,Van Rhijn,Veltman,Denswil,Boilesen, Klaassen (Poulsen 83),Blind,Serero (Fischer 72),Schone,De Jong, Sigthorsson (van der Hoorn 90). Subs Not Used: Vermeer,Moisander,Andersen,Hoesen. Booked: Klaassen,Denswil. Goals: Schone 51.
Celtic: Forster, Lustig, Ambrose, van Dijk, Mulgrew, Stokes (Boerrigter 73), Commons (Pukki 81), Kayal (Ledley 77), Izaguirre, Forrest, Samaras. Subs Not Used: Zaluska, Rogic, Balde, Fisher. Booked: Samaras, Izaguirre.
Referee: Deniz Aytekin (Germany).
Attendance: 51,908