Soccer: O’Neill rejects Dutch claims

Celtic manager Martin O’Neill tonight laughed off comments from Ajax counterpart Co Adriaanse on the eve of tomorrow night’s crunch Champions League showdown in Amsterdam.

The Dutchman has attempted to spice up the already heated third qualifying round by making disparaging claims about the physical nature of the Celtic side and John Hartson in particular.

But Adriaanse also insisted what his team lack in brawn they can make up in the quality of their football and leave Celtic’s historic bid to make the group stages by the way side.

He said: ‘‘Celtic are taller, stronger and more experienced than us, but I feel my players are tactically better. I think quality can count for us.’’

O’Neill, however, has told Adriaanse that he is fooling nobody and joked: ‘‘Yes, I saw real crunchers in Bobby Petta and Lubo Moravcik. That was the first image that I had of them.’’

Adriaanse’s words have raised the temperature of tomorrow’s battle even more but O’Neill insists his counterpart is attempting to play mind games.

The Irishman played against a top-class Ajax outfit on the way to winning the European Cup in 1980 and against a quality Dutch outfit during the 1970s.

And he pointed out that their biggest stars of the time could mix it when needed and the current side are no different.

O’Neill said: ‘‘I have never known an Ajax side not to look after themselves.

‘‘I played against Ajax in the semi-final of the European Cup and I can tell you that they looked after themselves all right.

‘‘I also played against the Dutch national side and even though they were a great side all of them could look after themselves. I’m sure this Ajax side are the same.

‘‘If he said these things, and I know sometimes liberties are taken, then I think it’s a myth because Dutch sides can look after themselves and be aggressive.

‘‘But I have seen them play and they are very very talented players, gifted technically and so on.’’

O’Neill believes Adriaanse only needs to look at his own gangly threat in attack of Zlatan Ibrahimovic to see his words have no substance.

He quipped: ‘‘The last time I looked at their centre-forward he was 6ft 4ins and was only 19. He has a lot of talent and looked excellent going forward.’’

But O’Neill has attempted to divert the attention back to his opposite number by claiming Ajax are the favourites.

After watching his side beat Liverpool on the way to victory in the Amsterdam tournament recently, Adriaanse responded by insisting his team were still the underdogs.

But it appears he has met his match with the Celtic boss, who tonight responded by heaping the pressure on their opponents.

O’Neill insisted: ‘‘It will be of huge financial significance to both clubs, but it seems neither team wants to take the mantle as favourites.

‘‘That doesn’t really bother me, but they are seeded regardless of what the manager says. They and their fans expect them to go through.

‘‘I think everyone can see they are fairly good side I don’t care what anybody says about this game.

‘‘They have plenty of young players in the team. They are a very, very good side despite what their manager says and it will be an extremely difficult game.

‘‘I think it’s basically down to a toss of a coin over the two games - it’s going to be very very close.’’

But without going over the top about his chances, the former Leicester boss admitted he expected his side to score in front of nearly 8,000 Celtic fans in the super-charged Amsterdam Arena.

O’Neill added: ‘‘I think Ajax are an absolutely great side, who are capable of scoring on any ground and I think we have the ability to score both here and at home too.’’

His only real doubt for tomorrow’s clash is over Bobby Petta, but he will give him every opportunity to shake of a slight leg strain.

O’Neill said: ‘‘Bobby Petta’s got a problem but he’s improving and we’ll see how he is at the last possible minute.

‘‘It’s not his hamstring, it’s just behind the knee and it’s still a wee bit sore, but he’s feeling better.’’

If Petta fails to recover in time, it will open the door for new boy Steve Guppy to make his debut for the club.