Sweet taste of revenge savoured

THERE is not a championship in Europe which can match Spain's La Liga for joyful exuberance so Celta Vigo were ironic opposition for Celtic to be drawn against after their very British affair with Blackburn Rovers.

In interviews after the match at Ewood Park, goalscorers Chris Sutton and Henrik Larsson looked as though they had won Rangers' tickets in a raffle, such was their reluctance to show English viewers what victory had meant to them. Celtic players did not want to give Premiership observers the satisfaction of believing it had been a big deal to beat Blackburn.

The subtext - that Celtic had been disrespected by Blackburn and by others who had not bothered to examine their credentials - propelled their leading marksmen into an almost sneering display of attitude in front of the microphones. It was quietly amusing, though no-one came close to matching the gleeful satisfaction of the Celtic players, proud about their overall performance on the night.

"We're not going to get carried away by beating a Premiership side but it will give our season a bit of a kick," said Neil Lennon. "Hopefully the season gathers momentum. I believe that this is a better squad than the one that won the treble two years ago. There are a lot of goals in this team."

Lennon's performance was a rebuff to the critics who suggested his recent contributions had been more girth than great.

The Blackburn game was one of the pivotal fixtures of Celtic's season and O'Neill's team selection could never have pleased every player. Being dropped from the starting team served as a punctuation mark in Paul Lambert's career; more of a comma than a full-stop, but a shunt on to a side road travelled by equally fine servants such as Jonathan Gould and Tom Boyd.

A manager's assessments are brutally exposed by his teamsheet. Just as leaving him out of the starting team in last season's Tennents Scottish Cup final revealed what Alex McLeish really thought of Tore Andre Flo, so O'Neill felt the trusted Lennon-Lambert axis was not the best option available to him at Ewood Park. He will surely play Sutton in the hole more often in order to keep John Hartson happy - ironically, Hartson made little of his precious starting role - and that will add to the infrequency of Lambert's involvement.

Making it to the last 32 to face Celta Vigo, though, entitled Lennon to the belief that he was part of a vigorous side rather than one whose constituent parts were being phased out. "We are a highly- motivated team," he went on. "The manager really wanted this one against Blackburn. This is for the players, the fans and the staff. That's what Celtic and Rangers could offer the Premiership. It was a great advertisement for us."

The vibrancy of the two ties compelled Talk Radio to devote an hour of debate on the Old Firm playing in England. The relevance was questionable given the impracticality of such a thing ever happening, but it allowed numerous Celtic fans to sound off about how their club made Blackburn pay for disparaging remarks.

"I liked some of the comments from the Blackburn players," said Lennon. "You use that as an added motivation. We never come out with quotes like that, whether we beat teams or not. There was just a lack of respect there for our team. Maybe things were said in the heat of the moment after the first game which they might now regret. Even if we play well and don't win games we don't come out and say that it was men against boys or stuff like that. You just keep it to yourself.

"I wouldn't say it was arrogance. It's more ignorance because they don't see us week in, week out. It's easy for them to say we're only winning in Scotland, but our yardstick is Europe. We have to make inroads in Europe. Obviously losing in the Champions League was a massive disappointment but this was another avenue for us."

In Celta Vigo, Celtic face a hurdle a little less formidable than Valencia, who eliminated them only on penalties at this stage last year.

If no-one is watching, they may allow themselves a little smile at the thought of what is in store.

MICHAEL GRANT

Copyright 2002 SMG Sunday Newspapers Ltd.
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.