Larsson double rescues below-par Celtic

Livingston 0 Celtic

Henrik Larsson sent out a warning to Celta Vigo yesterday that he is ready to inflict the same kind of damage on them that he did on their compatriots Valencia a year ago.

The polished Swedish striker struck two fine goals at the Almondvale Stadium to put Celtic back on top of the Scottish Premier League and underline the threat he will present to the Spanish club in the Uefa Cup encounter on Thursday at Parkhead.

After netting a fifth-minute penalty, Larsson added a fine 82nd-minute solo effort. He broke from his own half and left the Livingston defenders Oscar Rubio and Philippe Brinquin on the ground before drilling a right-foot shot in from the edge of the box.

Larsson said: "We had enough chances in the first half to finish the game off but Livingston made it very difficult for us in the second half.

"We have not started thinking about Celta Vigo yet. We take one game at a time and stay focused on that but I saw them on television last week and I was impressed with what I saw.''

Impressive was not the word to use to Martin O'Neill, though, after this performance in which his side struggled in the second half. "That is as poor as we have played for some time,'' the Celtic manager said. "We were never able to put the game beyond Livingston and we had some anxious times until Henrik scored that sublime second goal."

In the opening exchanges Celtic had the ball in the net after Larsson and Stilian Petrov had combined for the latter to cut the ball back into the path of Paul Lambert, whose shot beat the goalkeeper Javier Broto. However, the referee Stuart Dougal had already blown after Marvin Andrews thumped into Petrov, which gave Larsson the chance to convert the penalty.

Livingston soaked up Celtic's first-half pressure and countered with plenty of their own after the interval. Robert Douglas was stranded when a 76th-minute header from Andrews looped over him and hit the bar but, just as the hosts were dreaming of an equaliser, Larsson struck again.

Even then, Livingston remained out of luck. Douglas pulled off a superb save from a free-kick by Eugene Dadi. Their manager Jim Leishman was left to reflect: "Andrews was just inches away from an equaliser. We showed a lot of quality and we did not get bounced around by Celtic.''

Goals: Larsson pen (5) 0-1; Larsson (82) 0-2.

Livingston (4-3-3): Broto; Brinquin, Rubio, Andrews, Bolan; Bahoken, Quino (Dadi, 66), Makel; Wilson (Zarate, 73), Touré-Maman, Bingham. Substitutes not used: McEwan (gk), O'Brien, Camacho.

Celtic (3-5-2): Douglas; Valgaeren, Baldé, Laursen; Sylla, Lambert, Lennon, Petrov (McNamara, 10), Thompson; Larsson, Sutton. Substitutes not used: Gould (gk), Hartson, Maloney, Crainey.

Referee: S Dougal.

Bookings: Livingston: Bahoken. Celtic: Valgaeren, Sutton, Laursen.

Man of the match: Larsson.

Attendance: 10,002.