Celtic survive late Stuttgart rally

VfB Stuttgart 3 Celtic 2 Celtic win 5-4 on aggregate

Celtic made it through to the Uefa Cup quarter-finals last night despite defeat in Germany. Having given themselves a cushion with a 3-1 victory at Parkhead last week, they effectively completed the job with two first-half goals from Alan Thompson and Chris Sutton.

Although VfB Stuttgart hit back to win on the night, Celtic, with Henrik Larsson still injured, took an aggregate win over the Bundesliga's third-placed team.

Martin O'Neill's team, who still harbour ambitions to win four pieces of silverware, will now be taken seriously in the tournament and have real desires to win the trophy after reaching the last eight of a European competition for the first time since 1981.

The home side gave Celtic an early sign of what was in store when Zvonimir Soldo fired over from a tight angle after just 20 seconds.

Celtic were penned in and, after four minutes, they needed Joos Valgaeren to head clear under pressure from Ioannis Amanatidis. Moments later the Scots' goalkeeper Robert Douglas was relieved to see Andreas Hinkel's right-foot shot whistle just past the post and in the seventh minute Steffen Dangelmayr headed wide from 10 yards.

Celtic broke free and scored in the 12th minute when John Hartson flicked on Didier Agathe's cross and Thompson came in at the back post to head home from six yards.

Three minutes later Agathe outpaced Timo Wenzel and squared for Sutton to fire into an empty net from close range. But the home side gave themselves a glimmer of hope when they pulled a goal back in the 38th minute through Christian Tiffert's header.

After the break, Heiko Gerber blazed well over the bar from 22 yards, while Thompson should have done better in the 50th minute when his weak cross was put behind by Kevin Kuranyi. Then the English midfielder tested Timo Hildebrand with a well-struck drive but the home keeper held his effort.

Aleksander Hleb squared the scores on the night with 15 minutes remaining, soon after Ioan Ganea had headed wide from six yards.

A deflected shot from Amanatidis flew inches wide before Hleb hit the post from eight yards with five minutes remaining. Then, with three minutes to go, Michael Mutzel gave Stuttgart the lead on the night. However, at the end it was O'Neill, his players and the Celtic supporters who were left toasting the club's first appearance in the Uefa Cup quarter-finals.

VfB Stuttgart: Hildebrand; Hinkel, Wenzel, Gerber (Seitz, 80), Hleb, Soldo, Balakov, Dangelmayr (Ganea, h-t), Kuranyi, Amanatidis, Tiffert (Mutzel, 65). Substitutes not used: Ernst (gk), Schneider, Luz, Rundeo.

Celtic: Douglas; Laursen, Valgaeren, Baldé, Agathe, Lambert (Maloney, 82), Thompson, Lennon, Petrov, Sutton (McNamara, 87), Hartson. Substitutes not used: Marshall (gk), Sylla, Guppy, Mjallby, Crainey.

Referee: J Wegereef (Netherlands).