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Trivia
- Henrik Larsson rammed talk of a goalscoring crisis down the throats of his critics as Celtic went on the rampage in the UEFA Cup first round clash at Celtic Park.
- Larsson answered his critics with a hat-trick as Celtic swept aside the challenge of Lithuanian minnows Suduva.
- Larsson hat-trick makes him joint top scorer in European competition from a Scottish side.
Review
The whole of Celtic Park breathed a sigh of relief in the 15th minute when Larsson finally hit the back of the net. Sylla skipped away from Nerijus Devetinas and crossed for the Swede to fire home off the crossbar from close range (1-0).
Larsson provided his own answer to his critics when he scored his and Celtic’s second in the 23rd minute, heading home Steve Guppy’s cross (2-0).
Petrov added another four minutes later with a stunning right-foot volley from Sutton’s inch-perfect pass (3-0).
Sutton again turned provider and played Larsson through on goal for his hat-trick as the Swede coolly drew the goalkeeper before chipping the ball into the net (4-0).
Larsson repaid the favour nine minutes before the break, when he dummied Guppy’s centre for former Chelsea and Blackburn striker Sutton to bundle the ball home from close range (5-0).
Lambert had the easiest of opportunities to head into the empty net after 50 minutes following a rare mistake by the Suduva goalkeeper (6-0).
Hartson was on the scoresheet again for the third successive game after 73 minutes, coolly slotting the ball past the Suduva goalkeeper (7-0).
Valgaeren got in on the act with eight minutes remaining when he headed home a Hartson cross from close range (8-0) before Celtic eased off and conceded a sloppy goal at the death (8-1).
Teams
Celtic:-
Douglas, Valgaeren, Balde, Laursen (Crainey 60), Sylla, Lambert, Lennon (Fernandez 60), Petrov, Guppy, Larsson (Hartson 61), Sutton.
Subs not used:- Gould, McNamara, Thompson, Agathe.
Goals:- Larsson 16, 24, Petrov 27, Larsson 29, Sutton 35, Lambert 50, Hartson 72, Valgaeren 83.
Booked:- Laursen, Petrov.
FK Suduva:-
Padimanskas, Sendzikas, Suilauskas, Grigas, Devetinus, Kunevicius, Adomaitus (Saulius Kraipavicius 77), Zitinskas (Stankevicius 82), Sidlauskas (Hctiulis 45), Slavickas, Radzinevicius.
Subs not used:- Balnys, Klevinskas, Andrius Larcenka, Rukavicius.
Goal:- Radzinevicius 90.
Booked:- Sidlauskas, Suilauskas, Padimanskas.
Att:- 36,824
Ref:- M Liva (Czech Rep).
Articles
Pictures
Thursday, 19 September, 2002, 20:36 GMT 21:36 UK
Celtic trounce sorry Suduva
BBC
Celtic 8-1 Suduva Henrik Larsson answered his critics with a hat-trick as Celtic swept aside the challenge of Lithuanian minnows Suduva.
And it allowed the Swede to become the joint top scorer for a Scottish side in European competition, equalling Ally McCoist’s 21 goals.
Celtic could even afford to play the dying minutes with only 10 men after Momo Sylla went off for treatment for an injury.
Larsson did the damage in the first half and Stilian Petrov and Chris Sutton provided the other goals before Suduva could gather their thoughts at the break.
Tomas Radzinevicius provided a consolation goal for the visitors in the closing moments, but by then Paul Lambert, John Hartson and Joos Valgaeren had added the icing to the Celtic cake.
Martin O’Neill and his side had gone into the tie haunted by their Champions League qualifying tie defeat by Swiss side Basel. The consolation of the Uefa Cup appeared to do little to excite the Scottish champions or their fans.
But the visit of struggling Suduva offered the opportunity for Celtic to put that and some unconvincing performances in the Scottish Premier League behind them.
Hartson, who scored the only goal of the game against Hibernian on Saturday, was rewarded with a place on the bench as O’Neill made five changes and kept faith with an off-form Larsson.
Robert Douglas, Sutton, Lambert, Stilian Petrov and Sylla came in, with Hartson, Jonathan Gould, Jackie McNamara, Alan Thompson and Didier Agathe dropping out.
What O’Neill would probably regard as close to his first choice laid siege on the Suduva goal from the start as Sutton, Neil Lennon, Larsson and Petrov forced saves from Gytis Padihanskas.
The whole of Celtic Park breathed a sigh of relief in the 15th minute when Larsson finally hit the back of the net.
Sylla skipped away from Nerijus Devetinas and crossed for the Swede to fire home off the crossbar from close range.
Larsson provided his own answer to his critics when he scored his and Celtic’s second in the 23rd minute, heading home Steve Guppy’s cross.
Petrov added another four minutes later with a stunning right-foot volley from Sutton’s inch-perfect pass. Sutton again turned provider and played Larsson through on goal for his hat-trick as the Swede coolly drew the goalkeeper before chipping the ball into the net.
Larsson repaid the favour nine minutes before the break, when he dummied Guppy’s centre for former Chelsea and Blackburn striker Sutton to bundle the ball home from close range.
Lambert had the easiest of opportunities to head into the empty net after 50 minutes following a rare mistake by the Suduva goalkeeper.
Hartson was on the scoresheet again for the third successive game after 73 minutes, coolly slotting the ball past the Suduva goalkeeper.
Valgaeren got in on the act with eight minutes remaining when he headed home a Hartson cross from close range before Celtic eased off and conceded a sloppy goal at the death.
