celtic roar past lyon published: tuesday 30 september 2003, 22.00cet
celtic fc 2-0 olympique lyonnais two second-half goals give the scottish side three vital points.
by alex o'henley in glasgow
goals from liam miller and chris sutton gave celtic fc their first win in this season's uefa champions league as they defeated olympique lyonnais 2-0 at celtic park.
celtic in contention the three points puts celtic back into contention in group a, having lost their first game away at fc bayern münchen 2-1 two weeks ago. martin o’neill's side joined lyon on three points, the french champions having defeated rsc anderlecht at the stade gerland on matchday 1.
lyon threat despite the support of a noisily partisan crowd in glasgow, it was the french champions who settled quicker. the pace of sydney govou caused problems for jackie mcnamara on the left side of the celtic defence and bobo balde had to come to his captain's rescue on more than one occasion.
celtic chances having survived the early pressure, celtic might have taken the lead after seven minutes as alan thompson's high left-wing cross picked out henrik larsson, but instead of testing grégory coupet, the swedish striker opted to head back across goal but there was no support. the scottish side had an even better chance moments later as didier agathe darted down the right, but sutton put his low cross over the bar.
hedman to the rescue however, lyon were enjoying more possession, and almost caught celtic out midway through the half. a long ball from vikash dhorasoo was missed by stanislav varga allowing giovane elber a clear header, but the brazilian's effort was palmed away by magnus hedman.
thompson thwarted five minutes before half-time, celtic had a golden chance to break the deadlock as larsson was pulled back by anthony réveillère inside the penalty area, but alan thompson's well-struck, low spot-kick was blocked by coupet's legs.
coupet class celtic continued to press at the start of the second period with john hartson the next to be denied by coupet. the welsh international striker escaped from two defenders inside the penalty area and struck a right-foot shot towards the top corner, only for the lyon goalkeeper to turn the ball away at full stretch.
larsson denied again the home side were well on top by this stage, with coupet having to produce another important stop to keep the scoresheet blank, turning away larsson's fierce shot from the edge of the penalty area.
miller makes breakthrough just when it seemed that coupet would deny celtic the breakthrough, the opening goal arrived in the 70th minute. larsson dispossessed eric deflandre on the left and crossed for substitute miller to score with a powerful downward header that gave the lyon goalkeeper no chance.
sutton strikes nine minutes later, the points were sealed with larsson again the provider. he twisted past edmílson on the left and crossed for sutton this time to head beyond coupet. celtic could have added a third in the closing minutes as a sutton header from a stilian petrov glanced against the post, but the home fans were delighted just to see their side win.
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