Boyata Eyes Ajax Scalp With Celtic

Dedryck Boyata expects Europa League opponents Ajax to allow Celtic the space denied to them by Kilmarnock in Saturday's dreary goalless draw at Parkhead.

The Premiership leaders struggled all afternoon to break down a compact and resolute Rugby Park side who were more than happy to escape with a point.

The closest Ronny Deila's side came to a breakthrough was in the closing minutes when Hoops defender Boyata crashed a header off the crossbar, with Killie goalkeeper Jamie MacDonald appearing to have got a hand to the ball.

The Scottish champions immediately turned their attention to Europe where they have a win-or-bust home clash with the Dutch outfit on Thursday night. After four Group A matches and back-to-back defeats by Norwegian side Molde, Deila's men are bottom with two points and need to beat Ajax at home and Fenerbahce away to reach the knock-out stages.

Boyata believes Ajax, only one point ahead of Celtic, will open the match up when they come to Glasgow.

The 24-year-old Belgium international said: Ajax is a team that likes to play football. You never know but I don't think they will stay at the back.

"If we break against a team who comes against us then there is more space and maybe we create more chances.

"When a team stays at the back it is difficult because to create the chances you need to open them up.

"Ajax is a really important game. The last two Europa League games were disappointing. We know how good we can be and we didn't manage to be as good as we usually are.

"So it is a really important game and we need to be at our best."

Deila admitted to being "very frustrated" at drawing a blank against the ninth-placed Ayrshire side but understood why Rugby Park boss Gary Locke concentrated on keeping a clean sheet.

The Norwegian said: "I understand why they do it. It is hard, especially when you don't get the first goal and they get deeper and deeper. It gets more difficult.

"I was disappointed with the last 30 minutes. We started to get everybody inside the centre of the pitch and then it is more easy to defend because we are not a very physical team but we need to open spaces and stretch them to create chances."

Locke was delighted with winning the second point of the season against Celtic - the teams drew 2-2 at Rugby Park in August - and gave an honourable mention to skipper Mark Connolly who was back in the centre of the defence for the first time since suffering a knee injury against Ross County at the end of August.

He said: "I don't like singling out players but Mark Connolly has been a huge loss for us.

"We got him back and we certainly look more organised when he is in the team.

"I couldn't be happier for the boys who put in a terrific amount of work and we need to do that on a more consistent basis and if we do that hopefully we can have a good season."