Larsson catches Rovers on rebound with late winner

England have a Swede but last night Scotland turned to one of their own as Henrik Larsson struck with a late winner to give Celtic a valuable advantage from a torrid Uefa Cup contest at Celtic Park.

It looked as if the Battle of Britain would resume in a fortnight at Ewood Park evenly balanced until Larsson plundered his 22nd European goal for Celtic in the 85th minute to overtake Ally McCoist as the leading scorer for Scottish clubs in Europe. Alan Thompson's inswinging corner was met by the substitute John Hartson, whose header beat Brad Friedel. David Thompson headed off the line but Larsson pounced to stab in his shot.

The Blackburn manager, Graeme Souness, had sought to play down the Battle of Britain hype going into this tie but that cover was blown as Rovers tore into Celtic from the start. Yet their eagerness left the door open at the back and Celtic almost stole ahead in the ninth minute.

Didier Agathe's pace took him beyond Nils Johansson on the right before the Celtic winger delivered a powerful cross that was met by Stilian Petrov. whose header was palmed away by Friedel.

That save was eclipsed two minutes later by Robert Douglas, who denied Thompson, beating out the winger's left-foot shot after he had seized on uncertainty in Celtic's defence.

Blackburn's hunger hustled Martin O'Neill's side out of their rhythm, with Tugay Kerimoglu at the core of everything. His free-kick almost brought reward for the Premiership side when Craig Short knocked the ball to Martin Taylor, whose shot beat Douglas before Ulrik Laursen intervened with a clearance.

As half-time approached, Thompson unpicked Celtic's defence several times. Joos Valgaeren was the victim of a deft turn but Dwight Yorke failed to finish off the move.

Celtic had to impose themselves on this frenetic duel and five minutes into the second half they glimpsed a breakthrough when Garry Flitcroft headed Agathe's cross to the feet of Chris Sutton but his hook shot was held by Friedel.

The Scottish champions began to camp in Rovers' half, yet the red-shirted barrier gave up few chances. The visitors carved out one of their own before the hour when Lucas Neill's burst saw him deliver the ball to the feet of Andy Cole, who had replaced Egil Ostenstad, but Douglas clutched the substitute's drive.

O'Neill replaced Lambert with Hartson in the 76th minute and pushed Sutton back into midfield and five minutes before the end Celtic capitalised as Larsson snatched the winner.

Douglas conceded afterwards that the visitors were "a tidy team". He added: "We didn't play that well in the first half, but got back in it in the second and got a cheeky wee goal at the end. It gives us a good start to go down to Blackburn with. The main thing is we kept a clean sheet and we have notched a goal from it."

Celtic (3-5-2): Douglas; Valgaeren, Balde, Laursen; Agathe (Sylla, 80), Lambert (Hartson, 76), Lennon, Petrov, Thompson; Larsson, Sutton. Substitutes not used: Gould (gk), Fernandez, Maloney, Guppy, Crainey.

Blackburn Rovers (4-4-2) Friedel; Taylor, Short, Johansson, Neill; Thompson Tugay, Flitcroft, Duff (Dunn, 66); Yorke, Ostenstad (Cole, h-t). Substitutes not used: Kelly (gk), Jansen, Grabbi, Gillespie, Douglas.

Referee: H Albrecht (Ger).