Celtic are Ajax’s biggest rivals says Dutch defender

Celtic have been labelled as Ajax’s biggest rivals in the Europa League group by Dutch defender Nick Viergever.

The Ajax centre-back told the Daily Record that:

We need to win against Celtic because Fenerbahce are the favourites. They have spent a lot of money on their squad recently so that means realistically there is probably only one other place.

Fenerbache were third seeds in the group draw but have spent heavily in the summer bringing in former Manchester United pair Robin Van Persie and Nani as well as Danish international Simon Kjaer and Brazilian midfielder Souza.

Ajax have had an unbeaten start to their Eredivisie campaign winning four and drawing one of their opening five games, conceding just twice.

Both sides were knocked out of the Champions League in the final round of the qualification stage and will now hope to progress to the last-32 of Europe’s secondary competition.

Viergever reiterated the importance of starting strongly in this competition, adding:

It’ll be hard for Celtic or Ajax to finish top of the section but not impossible. It’s important we get off to a good start.

Celtic’s opening Europa League Group A game against Ajax kicks off at 6pm on Thursday at the Amsterdam Arena. The Hoops other Group A opponents Fenerbahce and Molde kick-off their opening match at the same time in Istanbul’s Sukru Saracoglu Stadium.