celtic come back to fight another day published: wednesday 14 august 2002, 23.29cet celtic fc 3-1 fc basel celtic recovered from an early scare to claim victory in glasgow.
celtic fc 3-1 fc basel celtic fought back from an early scare to take a first-leg lead in their uefa champions league third qualifying round tie against fc basel tonight.
stunned crowd chris sutton, henrik larsson and mohamed sylla rescued celtic's dream after christian gimenez stunned the home crowd with a goal after just 90 seconds. and the visitors had enough chances to have left the scottish champions with an impossible task in a fortnight's time at the saint jakob stadium.
swede strikes the celtic park crowd were in full voice when murat yakin slid the ball through to gimenez, who poked the ball under the advancing robert douglas in the second minute. but celtic equalised just minutes later from the spot. larsson played the ball through to stilian petrov, who was cut down by marco zwyssig, and the swede stepped up to blast his effort into the bottom corner past pascal zuberbühler.
change of pace celtic moved up a gear after the break and sutton almost put his side ahead in the 50th minute but fired straight at zuberbühler. the englishman, however, struck two minutes later. bobby petta squared the ball to neil lennon, who directed his shot on target, and sutton's back-heel wrong-footed the basel goalkeeper.
wonder goal celtic defender johan mjällby had to block gimenez's goalbound effort in the 75th minute, but sylla drove home a stunning volley just before the whistle to leave celtic in the box seat.
