Glasgow Celtic 1 Barcelona 3

Last updated : 14 September 2004 By Footymad Previewer

For most of this match Celtic were totally out-classed and were fortunate only to be one behind at half-time after kick-off had been delayed for half an hour.

However the home team staged a remarkable fightback and equalised through substitute Chris Sutton after keeper David Marshall had kept the home team in the game with a marvellous save from Ronaldinho's penalty.

As Celtic pressed for a winner, they were hit by two late goals from Ludovic Giuly and who else but Henrik Larsson, the home fans' former hero.

In a torrid opening few minutes, John Hartson was booked for a bad tackle on Rafael Marquez before Alan Thompson crunched into a tackle with Giovanni van Bronckhorst.

Barcelona finally took control with some flowing football and Marshall just beat Juliano Belletti to a ball which Jackie McNamara had left for the keeper. Marshall then did even better to parry a van Bronckhorst shot before the visitors deservedly took the lead.

Didier Agathe was short with his pass to Neil Lennon and after Ronaldinho gained possession, the Brazilian slipped a delightful ball to Deco who scored with an accurate shot into the far corner.

Celtic were finding it hard to mount any kind of sustained attack and were repeatedly caught offside.

The home team nearly fell further behind when Giuly broke through, but Marshall raced from his line to block the winger's shot. The Celtic keeper was beaten after Giuly took the ball past him but his net-bound effort was cleared off the line by Bobo Balde.

Celtic manager Martin O'Neill sent on Sutton at the start of the second half for the ineffective Juninho, but the game looked over for Celtic when McNamara brought down Giuly at the edge of the box. However, Marshall threw himself to his left to turn Ronaldinho's spot-kick behind.

This escape lifted Celtic and Sutton started to trouble the visitors' defence for the first time before Celtic equalised. Henri Camara advanced down the right wing before firing in a cross which Sutton bundled home from close range.

O'Neill rather surprisingly then substituted a defender Joos Valgaeren for Hartson in what looked a negative move. Stilian Petrov saw a tremendous volley touched over by Victor Valdes before the visitors regained their lead with a superb move.

Larsson, who had come on to boos from the home fans, released Belletti and his accurate cut-back was fired home by Giuly.

If that goal stunned Celtic it was nothing to their reaction when Thompson's attempted header back to Marshall was intercepted by Larsson, who rounded the keeper before sealing the victory for the visitors.