Larsson treble savages Suduva

Celtic 8 Suduva 1

Celtic blew away the clouds which have hung over the club since their premature Champions' League exit last month by almost equalling their best European score at Parkhead last night. A hat-trick from Henrik Larsson finished this Uefa Cup first-round first leg early on but, after Joos Valgaeren's 82nd-minute header put eight goals on the board, the next came from an unexpected source, as Tomas Radzinevicius thumped a consolation for the Lithuanians.

Celtic started with a real point to prove, but they bludgeoned the Lithuanian side into submission by the half hour, thanks, principally, to four goals in a blistering 13 minutes spell. Larsson had been forced to put up with suggestions from the media that his scoring powers had waned in the wake of costly misses against Basle and Motherwell. The taciturn Swede responded, as always, with actions, not words.

The striker began the deluge in the 15th minute when he profited from a fine run by Mohammed Sylla, who eluded Nerijus Devetinas, and his low cross was met by Larsson, who rifled a right-foot shot off the underside of the bar. With the pressure off, Celtic stroked the ball about at will. Devetinas fouled Sylla eight minutes later, allowing Steve Guppy to swing over a free-kick which was finished off by Larsson's glancing header for the second goal.

Within two minutes, Stilian Petrov had added a third and Larsson secured his hat-trick in the 28th minute, gathering Sutton's pass and chipping it over the goalkeeper, Gytis Padimanskas, before Sutton added his contribution by making it 5-0 after 35 minutes.

Barely four minutes into the second half, Celtic had stretched the margin to six. Larsson's free-kick around the wall saw Padimanskas heroically keep it out, only for Paul Lambert to head past the unprotected keeper.

After that, it was simply all about showboating for Martin O'Neill's side. John Hartson replaced Larsson on the hour and struck the bar twice before earning his reward by netting the seventh in the 70th minute, steering Petrov's pass beyond poor Padimanskas.

Celtic (3-5-2): Douglas; Valgaeren, Baldé, Laursen (Fernandez, 60); Sylla, Lennon (Crainey, 60), Petrov, Lambert, Guppy; Larsson (Hartson, 60), Sutton. Substitutes not used: Gould (gk), McNamara, Thompson, Agathe.

Suduva (4-4-1-1): Padimanskas; Kunevicius, Grigas, Sendzikas, Devetinas; Suliaskas, Zitinskas (Stankevicius, 81), Adomaitus (Krapavicius, 77), Sidlauskas (Maciulis, h-t); Slavickas; Radzinevicius. Substitutes not used: Balnys (gk), Klevinskas, Rukavicius, Larcenka.

Referee: M Liva (Czech Republic).