Larsson upstages Souness wind-up act

It is just as well Graeme Souness is now shorn of that trademark moustache, because for one moment on Thursday night he came eerily close to a Freddy Mercury impression worthy of any Stars in Your Eyes final.

Just 16 minutes into the Uefa Cup contest with Celtic, Souness responded to his name being chanted by the Blackburn Rovers fans by leaving the dugout, ignoring the action in front of him, and walking seven yards down the Parkhead track to respond with pumped-up applause of his own. The hands-in-the air clapping routine made Mick Jagger look like Sir Bobby Robson.

It was not for the 3,000 band of supporters from Lancashire. It was aimed at winding-up 57,000 others in the vast arena and if he had a microphone, Souness would not have been telling the audience: "Glasgow – you're the greatest."

For a man who professed to care little about the so-called Battle of Britain, Souness was making a poor show of disguising his true feelings. His surgeon might like to know that the Scot wore his heart on his sleeve from the moment he set foot back on his native soil, and blood pressure is likely to remain at an artificial high until this second-round tie is concluded at Ewood Park in 11 days' time.

Souness desperately tried to whip up a reaction in Glasgow. He got his old club, Rangers, to give Blackburn's players the use of their training ground, even though it was a 50-mile round trip from their country hotel, then publicly scoffed at Henrik Larsson being categorised as a world-class striker. It was all designed to remind Celtic of his previous incarnation as their nemesis. Yet 11 years is a long time, and the vitriol towards him barely reached any heights.

"I thought the crowd would be a bit more hostile," he said later. "We kept them quiet. It was a breeze for my players and we bossed the game – the only time we were under pressure was at set-pieces when they punted the ball into our box."

It was left to Larsson – who rarely speaks at all – to have the last word with the late goal that divides the teams. "I don't care about his opinion," said the Swede. "I have already proved myself on the world stage, I have nothing to prove to anyone else." Larsson left Parkhead with a cut under his eye from a stray Blackburn elbow, yet he has a habit of seeking retribution – legitimate, in the form of goals – which could come back to haunt Souness. "Blackburn kept the ball well. You don't beat Arsenal at Highbury if you are not a good side, but the fact we have not conceded a goal is an important factor."

That was not the case when Celtic were eliminated from the Champions' League by FC Basle. A 3-1 win at Parkhead was undone by a 2-0 defeat in Switzerland from a little-known side who now threaten to turf Liverpool out too.

Martin O'Neill's team are switched on to the threat of Blackburn – and to the fact that they failed to scale their own habitual heights. Ruthless scrutiny is commonplace in the Parkhead dressing room, but it could be the ungracious remarks of Rovers' captain Gary Flitcroft that prove a greater inspiration. "I hope Blackburn do treat us lightly at Ewood Park," said Neil Lennon. "We know we can play much better and it will be a different game there because the pressure is on them now – after all, we're leading."

The Celtic midfielder revealed that it took some harsh O'Neill insight at half-time to stem Blackburn's menace. "We were too deep in the first half and allowed their forwards to do what they wanted. The manager told the back three to squeeze up tighter. The movement of Cole and Yorke is superb and we're not used to facing that sort of opponent every week."

Neither though, are Blackburn. Craig Short, the central defender, admitted later he was spellbound by Celtic's physique. "I was standing next to three big 6ft 4in defenders in the tunnel, and then there's Chris Sutton and John Hartson, who are a handful too. Apart from Arsenal, this is the biggest team I've played against and they use it well at set-pieces."