O'Neill hails 'deserved' victory

By Alex O'Henley in Glasgow

A narrow victory against FC Barcelona pleased Celtic FC manager Martin O'Neill, in a game where Alan Thompson's second-half goal followed the dismissal of home goalkeeper Robert Douglas and FC Barcelona's Thiago Motta and Javier Saviola - Douglas and Motta after a half-time altercation.

'Good evening'
"I thought the game was played in a good spirit up until then," said O'Neill, who was otherwise content. "It has been a good evening for us. I thought we deserved to win the game and the players are a credit to themselves."

Quartet suspended
The dismissed trio will now miss the second leg at the Camp Nou on 25 March, along with Bobo Balde, whose impressive game in the Celtic defence was mixed with a booking that leaves him suspended in a fortnight's time.

Barcelona chances
Other than that, Barcelona will look back at this game feeling an away goal was in their grasp. After a predicted early onslaught from Celtic, the visitors soon completely dominated the midfield area for long spells. Their slick passing movements caused all sorts of problems for Celtic and Saviola and Ronaldinho went close before half-time.

Home changes
Celtic began with young Craig Beattie operating up front with Henrik Larsson, but such was the dominance of the visitors that the 20-year-old was soon forced back into midfield. Indeed, he was withdrawn at the break when O'Neill needed to send on replacement goalkeeper David Marshall, who turned 19 last week.

Thompson goal
However, the sendings-off during and immediately after the interval changed the complexion of the game and Celtic with the crowd behind them became a more potent force in the second period. Didier Agathe began to make surging runs down the right and from one of his crosses Larsson knocked the ball back
into the path of Thompson, who made no mistake.

Camp Nou test
"It was a relief to get the result," admitted Celtic's Stephen Pearson. "The team performed well in the second half, but we know it is going to be difficult in the Camp Nou and we need to be at our best."

Rijkaard disappointed
Although disappointed his side had failed to score, visiting coach Frank Rijkaard knows the tie is still alive. "I am not satisfied with our performance," he said. "We should have scored from the chances we had in the first half."

'Intense game'
"We played the second half with only nine men and the players who stayed on the pitch did a good job," the Barcelona coach went on. "It was a very intense game and we have to learn from our mistakes. Now we have 90 minutes to turn the tie around at home."