Champions League: Celtic score first win first group win against Ajax

Celtic boosted their hopes of progressing in the UEFA Champions League with a 2-1 victory at home to Ajax.

Neil Lennon had insisted that his side could not afford to lose for the third straight game in Group H, and they managed to pick up their first three points of the campaign thanks to goals from James Forrest and Beram Kayal.

The breakthrough came on the stroke of half-time when Forrest scored from the penalty spot after Anthony Stokes had been brought down by Stefano Denswil.

Denswil’s night then went from bad to worse when he got a crucial deflection to Kayal’s long-range strike on 54 minutes to double Celtic’s advantage.

Nir Biton was shown a straight red card in the 88th minute for a late tackle on Thulani Serero but, despite Ajax’s best efforts and a wonderful stoppage-time goal for Lasse Schone, Celtic held firm.

“It leaves us in a very good position,” said Lennon.

“We’ll have to get a result in Amsterdam if we can.

“That’s going to be difficult, but it’s not beyond us.”

Last night’s win kick-started Celtic’s Champions League campaign after losing their opening two matches against Barcelona and AC Milan.

It also lifts Lennon’s men into third place in Group H with three points while Ajax drop to the foot of the table with only one.

They now travel to Amsterdam in two weeks and Lennon insists they have enough confidence to take something from the game.

“We’re only two behind Milan now,” said Lennon.

“Every game is different, you have to take it on its merits.

“Ajax at home in Amsterdam are a formidable side, you can see they had a lot of possession tonight.

“They passed and moved the ball well, but I thought we coped with the majority of stuff they threw at us.

“Second half, we broke very well and we could have seen the game out a bit more comfortably for my liking.

“The group is wide open and it was a massive win in the context of the group.”