Ajax held

Celta Vigo enjoys Champions League debut

Celta Vigo's Edu (left) is tackled by Tomas Hrdlicka of Slavia Prague. AP

GRAZ, Austria (AP) -- A late equalizing goal gave Ajax relief, while Dynamo Kiev and newcomers Celta de Vigo hardly had to sweat with three-goal thumpings in Champions League qualifying on Tuesday.

Wesley Sneijder curled a free kick over Grazer AK goalkeeper Andreas Schranz 12 minutes from time to give Ajax an invaluable away goal when it hosts the Austrian team in two weeks in the return leg of third-round qualifying.

In Vigo, Celta crushed Slavia Prague 3-0, and in Kiev, Dynamo downed Dinamo Zagreb 3-1. Both winners seem assured of advancing to the lucrative group phase.

Ajax coach Ronald Koeman was worried enough after Grazer's Emanuel Pogatetz headed in a free kick cross from Matthias Dollinger in the 56th minute, to introduce star striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, whom he'd benched to rest a slight groin injury.

"My team was shocked after being down a goal, but we took over control soon after and equalized deservedly," Koeman said.

Until Sneijder's strike, Ajax had struggled to find the net, with captain Rafael Van der Vaart, Brazilian Wamberto and striker Wesley Sonck all missing chances.

Celta made a stunning Champions League debut, with Alexander Mostovoi, Jesuli Mora and Edu Schmidt all netting against Slavia to make the return leg in Prague on Aug. 27 appear a formality.

Mostovoi capitalized on his team's brisk start by majestically sweeping an 18th-minute free kick from the edge of the area past the Czech team's helpless goalkeeper Radek Cerny, for Celta's first-ever goal in European soccer's top club competition.

Spearheaded by its summer signing from Parma, Serbia-Montenegro international Savo Milosevic, the Spanish team then forced Slavia into some desperate defending as it pressed hard to increase its advantage.

It came as no surprise when Slavia, which had Champions League experience only in the qualifying stages, fell two goals behind when forward Jesuli beat Cerny with a long-range shot in the 50th.

To the delight of some 20,000 spectators in a sweltering Balaidos Stadium, Celta increased its lead five minutes later as Brazilian forward Edu netted the rebound, after Cerny could only parry a shot by former Spanish international midfielder Jose Ignacio Saenz.

Celta is set to join fellow Spanish sides Real Madrid and Real Sociedad in the group stage, which begins next month, and they might yet be joined by Deportivo de La Coruna, which takes on Norway's Rosenborg on Wednesday.

Two goals in seven minutes late in the first half set up Dynamo over Dinamo Zagreb before 14,000 spectators at Dynamo stadium.

Serhiy Fedorov's 32nd-minute header was followed by a goal from Jerko Leco, a former Dinamo Zagreb player.

The Croatian team's captain, Niko Kranjcar, who turns 19 Wednesday, halved the deficit three minutes from halftime, but Oleh Husev, who substituted for Dynamo Kiev's Brazilian international Alessandro in the 62nd, secured the result near the end, scoring off a pass from Alexander Belkevich.

 

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