Celtic v Ajax - Story of the match

3 minutes: Guppy cross. Henrik heads over the bar.

6 minutes: Arveladze shoots well wide.

9 minutes: Sutton plays in Larsson. His cross is too near to the keeper and is held.

11 minutes: Guppy free kick. Mjallby header across goal held by keeper.

15 minutes: Larsson chopped by Yakuba. Deservedly booked.

19 minutes: Douglas saves brilliantly from Wamberto from 8 yards as Ajax have a great chance to go ahead.

21 minutes: Header from Machlas from 12 yards easily taken by Douglas.

29 minutes: Wamberto runs from deep, plays 1-2 with Averladze (clever back heel), runs on with the ball into the box and chips the ball over an advancing Douglas.

31 minutes: Averladze breaks free on the right and shoots from a difficult angle. Douglas saves.

34 minutes: Guppy crosses and Sutton heads for goal. Ball cleared by Chivu.

43 minutes: Van der Vaart booked for late tackle on Paul Lambert.

47 minutes: Yakuba shoots from 40 yds. Easily held by Douglas.

65 minutes: Machlas replaced by Ibrahimovitch.

71 minutes: Knopper replaces Vierklau for Ajax while Celtic bring on Moravcik for McNamara.

75 minutes: Agathe gets round Ajax defence. Keeper clears cross with his foot.

76 minutes: Mido replaces Bergdolino.

77 minutes: Ajax no 11 shoots from narrow angle. Well blocked by Douglas.

79 minutes: Lambert appears to handle ball while on the ground at the edge of the penalty area. Mido booked for protest. 86 minutes: Celtic fans begin to celebrate as the tie looks to be won.

88 minutes: Larsson fails to connect properly with brilliant cross from Moravcik.

Graeme's Game

Guesting with Dougelly Donnelly in the studio were wee Craig Broon, predicting a 3 or 4 goal win for the tic, and Mad Mick McCarthy, slightly more realistic but still lumping for a home win.

Myself and most of the other rational punters expected it to be a good deal closer. With the Dutch knowing they had to score three times they weren't going to sit back and limit the damage.

As commentary team Rob McLean and Eric Black got us underway it was a relief to see big Joos and Johan in the defence allowing Sutton to take his rightful place back up front. In fact the only change from the 1st leg was Guppy, who runs like his boots are two sizes too wee, in for the injured Petta.

A couple of good early balls into the box suggested that the Ajax defence looked as unhappy as they had a fortnight ago, but nothing materialised and as the half wore on they treated us to as crisp and precise a passing game as I'd seen since PSG a few years back. This was a worrying thought as they'd beaten us 3-0 that night. I had a large gulp of lager and tried to convince myself this side weren't in the same class despite the Celtic midfield chasing shadows in front of me as they were comprehensively outplayed.

A lucky, but vital save from Douglas gave me a wee bit of encouragement - maybe luck would be with us tonight, but shortly afterwards a stunning move resulted in Ajax going in front through Wamberto, described by McLean later as 'the little Brazilian magician'. I wished he'd stayed at home watching his Paul Daniels videos as he continued to outstrip Guppy and Valgaeren every time he got the ball.

Throughout all this misery Tommy Boyd was once again having an outstanding game with Lambert and McNamara trying hard.

It looked like Mjallby and Joos had come back a bit too quick after injury and Neil Lennon's lack of pace was being seriously found out. Thanks to another good Douglas save we got to half time just the one down.

The studio pundits were flabbergasted and proceeded to waffle on about not a lot really. I went for another beer and a fag.

Ajax started brightly in the second half but the bhoys looked to have a steelier determination about them and most of the visitors attacks petered out. The most excitement seemed to be in the stands where as had been threatened, the rival Ajax gangs got waded in about each other.

Back on the park and another great block from Douglas and we survived a penalty claim when Lambert landed with his hand on the ball.

The noise level picked up as the countdown began, I thought taking the ball into the corner with still eight minutes left was a bit desperate but at last it was all over and for the first time Celtic will take their place at the top table of European football.

While the result was disappointing it was obvious that we had just knocked out a quality football side and showed just what a great result the 3-1 in Amsterdam had been.

Now we look forward to the draw, let's hope we can all enjoy ourselves and raise the esteem of our club in European terms once again.