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Sutton’s Champions League message as Ajax set new benchmark

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Chris Sutton watched at first hand as Celtic suffered badly in Europe under Brendan Rodgers with an unofficial message coming out of the club that they can’t compete with the super powers of the game.

Last night he sat in the BT Sport studio marveling at Ajax’s 2-1 win in Turin to oust Juventus on the back of their 4-1 win away to Real Madrid.

The Dutch champions have shown that the latter stages of the Champions League isn’t a closed shop after KO-ing two clubs that routinely expect to be in the semi-finals or competing in the final itself.

Various comparisons have been made between Celtic and Ajax as the Dutch side progress through this season’s competition including home and away wins over AEK Athens in the group phase.

Ajax spent heavily during the summer but will more than recoup that through the transfer fees they receive at the end of this season when the big guns come in to sign up their best players.

Three seasons ago Celtic and Ajax faced each other in the Europa League with little between the teams during the group stage matches.

While Celtic went on to pick up Champions League prize money over the two seasons that followed Ajax reached one Europa League final then failed to reach the group phase last term when they lost out to Rosenborg in a qualifier.

Although there are no exact comparisons this season’s run to the semi-finals has certainly raised expectations for clubs outside the richest leagues at the time when UEFA is under pressure to further restrict entry criteria to the so-called Champions League.

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