Celtic scalp opens opportunities for De Boer's Ajax

Frank de Boer, Ajax coach
We played a very good first half. Maybe we were lacking [the finishing touch] but there were a lot of good attacks – we just had to wait for such a nice attack as with the goal. We didn't give away a chance and continued like that in the second half.

After we went 1-0 up, I did see us relaxing a bit while Celtic became more of a threat. Some guys were very tired, but we had a chance to score more. But if you don't do that you always run the risk of conceding yourself. I have said before that if you play like this in big parts of a match – and you analyse it – then usually the best team wins. Today the best team won.

In these kinds of matches, in terms of experience and power in the challenges we can lack a bit – but I chose this XI. Although we don't have a very experienced team and Celtic do, I chose to play with some youngsters like Davy Klaassen. We're happy that we played like this and happy with the result.

Every team still wants to play for second place and it's all wide open. We have to go to San Siro and we have to play with confidence there. But first we have to play against Barcelona. Any point we can take there is a bonus because we all know how it is to play against them. So it will be an interesting match against Milan, though Celtic still have some chances too – it isn't decided just yet.

Neil Lennon, Celtic manager
We were very disappointing in the first half. The second half was better and we had opportunities to score but we didn't take them. We missed some decent chances, like the one for [James] Forrest, and that would have got us back in the game. Some players will feel regrets tonight because the first half was below their level.

Fraser [Forster] made some good saves, but particularly in the attacking area we were invisible. In the second half it was better, I wanted much more from the players and I got that. From our point of view their goal was a poor goal.

I need a bit more from some players. Let's look at Celtic Park now and try to turn things around. We have to work on our away form. We played well in Milan and OK in the second half here but it isn't good enough. And even thought we didn't play well in the first half it was 0-0. We came out better in the second half but despite that we conceded a goal.

It's always difficult away from home, we need to create chances, but there were opportunities where we could have been better with the final ball. This is a concern lately both domestically and in Europe. It's an opportunity lost, but all isn't lost. We have to regroup, and we will.