Post by Taxigirl on Nov 6, 2003 9:43:13 GMT
Celtic 3-1 Anderlecht
UEFA Champions League Group A
Celtic produced some fireworks to get their UEFA Champions League campaign back on track with an impressive 3-1 win over Anderlecht at Parkhead on Wednesday night.
Martin O'Neill's men hit Anderlecht with a first half blitz courtesy of goals from Henrik Larsson, Liam Miller and Chris Sutton with Aruna Dindane grabbing a late consolation for the visitors.
Celtic started off in the ascendancy backed by the fervent home crowd and they broke the deadlock on 12 minutes through prolific Swede Larsson.
Didier Agathe was the architect of the goal with an inch perfect cross from the right to the unmarked Larsson inside the box, and the striker made no mistake with a glancing header to register his first goal of the group stages and set Celtic off to a flying start.
The Bhoys really had the bit between their teeth and they doubled their lead five minutes later with young Irishman Miller latching onto John Hartson's knockdown to fire confidently low past Daniel Zitka from 12 yards.
The home side continued the onslaught and Stilian Petrov almost added a third on 28 minutes with a header at the back post from Miller's cross, but Zitka raced across his goal to acrobatically tip the Bulgarian's header over the crossbar.
Anderlecht's respite was momentary as Celtic grabbed their third goal from the resulting corner as Sutton raced in unchallenged to meet Hartson's flick-on with a simple header to send Parkhead into delirium.
The Belgian champions were offering very little in attack and Celtic really should have added to their lead before half time with Miller unselfishly picking out Larsson in the box, but Zewlakow did just enough to block the striker's goalbound backheel.
Anderlecht almost pulled a goal back on 53 minutes when Dindane got on the end of Walter Baseggio's pass inside the box, but Bobo Balde got back to block the striker's shot.
Celtic took their foot off the pedal in the second half as they were content to sit on their lead, but Hartson forced Zitka into a good save on the hour after turning youngster Vincent Kompany.
Anderlecht gave themselves a glimmer of hope on 77 minutes pulling a goal back through Dindane after Hedman had saved Ivica Mornar's spot kick.
The visitors won the penalty after Balde's foul on Dindane and although Hedman did well to save Mornar's kick and Christian Wilhelmsson's follow up, Dindane was on hand to blast home from a tight angle at the third attempt.
CELTIC: Hedman 7, McNamara 7, Balde 7, Varga 6, Agathe 7, MILLER 8* (Gray 73) 4, Petrov 7, Lennon 7, Sutton 7, Hartson 6 (Maloney 83) 4 (Sylla 90) 0, Larsson 8.
ANDERLECHT: Zitka 7, Deschacht 6, Michal Zewlakow 6, Kompany 7, Tihinen 6, Hendrikx 5 (Kolar 63) 5, Hasi 5, Baseggio 6, Wilhelmsson 6, Mornar 6, DINDANE 8*
The Match Score
Celtic 3 - 1 Anderlecht
Henrik Larsson 12
Liam Miller 17
Chris Sutton 29
Aruna Dindane 77
Match facts
Competition: Champions League
Venue: Celtic Park
Attendance: 59057
KO: 19:45 Wednesday 05th November 2003
Referee: Kyros Vassaras
Teams Celtic
21 Magnus Hedman
6 Dianbobo Balde
23 Stanislav Varga
4 Jackie McNamara
18 Neil Lennon
19 Stilian Petrov
43 Liam Miller
17 Didier Agathe
7 Henrik Larsson
9 Chris Sutton
10 John Hartson
Subs
20 Robert Douglas
35 Johan Mjallby
41 John Kennedy
Michael Gray
33 Ross Wallace
3 Mohammed Sylla
29 Shaun Maloney
Anderlecht
Daniel Zitka 1
Marc Hendrikx 14
Hannu Tihinen 30
Vincent Kompany
Besnik Hasi 15
Christian Wilhelmsson 17
Aruna Dindane 26
Olivier Deschacht 3
Michal Zewlakow 6
Walter Baseggio 10
Ivica Mornar 19
Subs
Tristan Peersman 24
Aleksander Ilic 2
Yves Vanderhaeghe 4
Martin Kolar 11
Par Johan Zetterberg 21
Sherjill MacDonald
Gabriel Ngalula Mbuyi 23
Cautions Celtic Anderlecht
Chris Sutton, 32
Unsporting behaviour
John Hartson, 33
Unsporting behaviour
Stanislav Varga, 67
Unsporting behaviour
Aruna Dindane, 32
Unsporting behaviour
Michal Zewlakow, 44
Unsporting behaviour
Christian Wilhelmsson, 59
Unsporting behaviour
Substitutions Celtic Anderlecht
75 Liam Miller
75 Michael Gray
83 John Hartson
83 Shaun Maloney
90 Shaun Maloney
90 Mohammed Sylla
62 Marc Hendrikx
62 Martin Kolar