Young guns delight Koeman

By Marcus Christenson in Amsterdam

AFC Ajax coach Ronald Koeman praised the strength of his young team after a battling 1-0 win against RC Celta de Vigo put them top of UEFA Champions League Group H.

Calm finish
Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored the only goal in the 53rd minute to give Ajax a second consecutive victory in the competition. The Swedish international sped past Juan Velasco and avoided a late challenge from Eduardo Berizzo to finish calmly past José Manuel Pinto.

'Demonstration of strength'
Koeman said after the game that the three points were a credit to the ability of his youthful side. "I think that was a tremendous win and a show of strength from this very young team, where the average age is about 23," he said. Koeman was particularly pleased with the way young defender Jelle Van Damme played in central defence, ensuring that the injured Julien Escudé was not missed. "I thought Van Damme had an excellent game," he said.

Sloppy Ibrahimovic
Koeman was happy that Ibrahimovic had scored at a vital stage of the game, but also directed some criticism at the match-winner. "We are grateful that he scored an important goal and that is what he does well - but he was a bit sloppy in his play and that meant we couldn't use the space on the wings as I'd hoped. Celta deserved a point a tonight."

Sharp response
Ajax certainly rode their luck in the second half when Celta, inspired by the incisive running of Juanfran, pushed forward. The Spanish side reacted quickly to Ajax's goal and created five good chances in the space of seven minutes. Twice, they felt they should have had a penalty while Juanfran and Berizzo both went close. Ajax defender Petri Pasanen then nearly deflected a cross into his own goal.

Lotina devastated
Celta coach Miguel Ángel Lotina revealed that he was "very, very disappointed" with the result. He said: "There is no doubt in my mind that we were the better team, but in the end we didn't have the luck you need in football. I'm taking heart from the way we played and that gives us hope for the future."

Finishing the difference
Celta played cleverly with the midfield players working extremely hard and wing-backs Sylvinho and Velasco covering copious amounts of space on the flanks. Lotina's tactics were designed to restrict Ajax full-backs Trabelsi and Maxwell and it worked well. In the end, though, their finishing let them down. He hoped his team would look at the good points and take them into the next game between the sides in Spain on 4 November.

Tight group
Koeman, meanwhile, was hoping to have the injured Rafael van der Vaart back for that game but conceded that Trabelsi, who also limped off, was a doubt. But AC Milan's defeat at home by Club Brugge KV did not suit his side. He said: "I am not happy about Brugge winning. That makes this group even tighter and even more impossible to predict."