Soccer: Celtic beat Ajax in Amsterdam

Celtic beat Ajax 3-1 in Amsterdam to take a giant step towards reaching the Champions League group stages for the first time in their history.

Goals from Bobby Petta, Didier Agathe and Chris Sutton stunned the four-time winners of the competition.

But a goal from Shota Arveladze gives the Dutch giants a glimmer of hope for the return leg in Glasgow in a fortnight.

Martin O'Neill was forced to make one change with Alan Thompson cup-tied, Jackie McNamara coming in, along with Tom Boyd, who pushed Olivier Tebily on to the substitutes' bench.

Celtic were boosted with the news that former Feyenoord winger Petta declared himself fit before kick-off and had new signings John Hartson, Steve Guppy and Momo Sylla also waiting in reserve.

Ajax manager Co Adriaanse had fired up the atmosphere before the game with disparaging comments Celtic and he decided to play striker Arveladze despite his outburst about the club.

Ajax looked sharp on the break and almost made the perfect start with a goal in only the second minute.

Rafael van der Vaart fired a dangerous ball across the face of goal and Nikos Machlas got ahead of Boyd and McNamara and headed just past the upright.

But just five minutes later the Celtic support were in ecstasy when their side sensationally took the lead following a blunder by goalkeeper Fred Grim.

He seemed to get caught in two minds and pushed a harmless cross-shot from Sutton into the path of Petta, who coolly fired the ball into the roof of the net.

That goal clearly rattled the home side and they were lucky not to go further behind in the 14th minute.

Petta skipped past the poor challenge of Yakubu Abubakari and swung in a tempting cross to the back post, but Sutton seemed to slip and failed to convert the chance.

Celtic again went agonisingly close two minutes later when Grim failed to claim Petta's corner and Henrik Larsson's header came out off the underside of the bar.

But Larsson created Celtic's second goal of the night in the 20th minute to stun the home crowd into silence.

He found Agathe advancing down the right flank and he raced away from Cristian Chivu before coolly slotting the ball past Grim.

Ajax were clearly reeling from the whirlwind start for Celtic, but they almost grabbed a lifeline in the 25th minute.

Abubakari found Mido in space and he let fly with a fierce right-foot shot which Celtic goalkeeper Robert Douglas did well to stop to his left.

Ajax were losing their heads and Van der Vaart's booking for dissent followed a number of rash challenges from the Dutchmen.

But the home side grabbed a goal back in the 40th minute as the Celtic defence was opened up.

Pius Ikedia burst through to the byline and pulled it back for Machlas, whose effort was saved by Douglas, but the ball fell to Arveladze to side-foot home.

Moments later Lennon was booked for a rash tackle as Celtic were forced to soak up the pressure.

However, Celtic almost restored their two-goal advantage in the dying seconds of the half.

Larsson picked out Sutton in the centre with a perfect cross, but Grim made up for his earlier mistakes with a stunning save to deny him from point-blank range.

Celtic came out as rampant as they did in the first half and almost grabbed a third just two minutes after the restart.

Sutton headed the ball on to Larsson, who got himself half a yard on Petri Pasanen, and the Swede slid the ball past the advancing Grim but could only watch as it rolled just past the post.

Celtic needed to stand up and be counted as Ajax came at them again and goalkeeper Douglas was having a heroic evening, making two great saves to deny substitute Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Machlas.

But the Hoops were in wonderland once again in the 55th minute when Sutton restored Celtic's two-goal advantage.

The impressive Agathe skipped away down the right flank and whipped in a right-foot cross for Sutton to head past Grim from six yards.

Celtic almost rubber-stamped their place in the group stages with eight minutes remaining.

Petta whipped the ball to the back post for Sutton to head on target, but Grim made a great save to deny him and Celtic.

John Hartson made his second appearance for Celtic as a replacement for Larsson and Steve Guppy made his debut in a Celtic shirt when he came on for Petta.

Ajax looked dead and buried as the seconds ticked down.

Although it is too early to talk about this side emulating the feat of the Lisbon Lions, after winning the Treble in his first season, O'Neill has almost taken his side to the lucrative stages of the Champions League which is an achievement in itself.