THIS is the shock moment followers of Celtic and Ajax clashed during a FRIENDLY pre-season match in Italy.
The Hoops and the Amsterdam based giants were meeting in tonight’s Como Cup semi-final, which ended in a resounding 5-1 win for John Heitinga’s men.
Celtic fans behind the goal make a beeline to the fence
GettySteven Berghuis of Ajax celebrates with team mates[/caption]
Both sides lobbed missiles over the barrier
The match was played out after major thunderstorms caused torrential rain in the hours before kick off.
And trouble flared behind one of the goals during the second period, despite the genteel surroundings in one of the most picturesque spots in European football.
Our footage shows fans of the two teams throwing missiles such as bottles over a fence in place to segregate the two sets of fans.
It’s unclear what sparked the violence, although at least one Hoops follower in the video has a Palestinian flag while Ajax make great play of their connection with the Jewish community in Holland.
Cops and security staff were kept busy attempting to keep them apart.
On the pitch, a double from Steven Berghuis added to goals from Davy Klaessen, Aaron Bouwman and Rayane Bounida as the Dutch side
Yang Hyun-Jun got the goal for Brendan Rodgers’ men, sweeping in a fine finish after a sweeping move.
The Hoops will now face Al-Ahli in the third/fourth place match on Saturday evening.
After the Ajax defeat, Hoops boss Brendan Rodgers warned that the club must show more ambition in the transfer market if they are to progress.
He said: “If your ambition is to really progress and push forward, then we need to improve the squad.
“But I can’t fault the players. The players that are here, they’ve been working so well, so hard and you see some of the play and how they work has been very, very good.
“However, if you want to progress, then, as I said, you need to bring in quality and that’s something that we hopefully can do.”
Rodgers refused to slam his side for the defeat to the Dutch giants, adding: “I think the scoreline doesn’t quite reflect the game.
“The first 60 minutes we played, there was a lot of really good football with physicality.
“We broke through their pressure, scored one, could have had more.
“There were enough really good moments in the game, but certainly the last 30 minutes, we would want to be better.
“I think that’s the nature of a pre-season.
“It’s designed to grow and by the end of it, you’ve had really good tests.
“When we see that tonight, there’s a lot to take positive from the game.
“But there’s also areas, for me, seeing players on the next level and how they cope and a reminder really of the work that we have to do on the pitch and off the pitch.
“But yes, disappointed with the goals we’ve given away.”
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