Larsson treble sinks Suduva

Celtic FC 8-1 FK Suduva
Swedish striker Henrik Larsson scored a first-half hat-trick as Celtic FC picked themselves up after the disappointment of missing out on a place in the UEFA Champions League with an impressive victory against Lithuanian side FK Suduva.

Early misses
Gytis Padimanskas in the Suduva goal had already denied Larsson after a fifth-minute run and shot, and the striker's luck seemed to be out as he missed a simple header eight minutes later. However, once he opened his account for the evening after driving Momo Sylla's pass in off the crossbar on 13 minutes, there was no stopping the Swede.

Hat-trick completed
Larsson extended Celtic's lead after 23 minutes, pulling away from Tomas Sendzikas to head past the goalkeeper from Steve Guppy's cross, before Stilian Petrov made it 3-0 on 27 minutes with a stunning right-footed volley. Larsson completed his hat-trick on the half-hour mark, collecting a pass from Chris Sutton before chipping the advancing goalkeeper.

Easy task for Lambert
Sutton got off the mark from a Larsson pass nine minutes before the break, and it was 6-0 four minutes into the second half after Padimanskas could only fumble a Larsson shot into the path of Paul Lambert, who had the simple task of shooting into an empty net.

Hartson off the mark
Substitute John Hartson had already hit the crossbar before he opened his account with a cool 72nd-minute finish from Petrov's cross and the Welsh international turned provider as he set up Joos Valgaeren for a header for Celtic's eighth goal eight minutes from time, before Tomas Radzinevicius hit a late consolation for Suduva.