Boavista beaten

Larsson goal sends Celtic into UEFA Cup final

PORTO, Portugal (Reuters) -- Celtic reached the UEFA Cup final for the first time when a 79th-minute strike from Henrik Larsson gave them a 1-0 win over Boavista in the second leg of their semifinal on Thursday.

Larsson's goal secured a 2-1 aggregate victory for the Scots and was the highlight of an otherwise dire match which appeared to be petering out for a 0-0 draw.

That would have been good enough to give Boavista a place in the final on the away goals rule after their 1-1 draw in Glasgow two weeks ago.

Instead, Celtic, who last played in a European final when they lost to Feyenoord in the 1970 European Cup final, will meet Boavista's city rivals Porto in the final in Seville on May 21.

The goal came when Larsson picked up a loose ball outside the Boavista penalty area and went to pass to John Hartson. Instead, Boavista defender Filipe Anunciaca intercepted and played the ball back into Larsson's path.

The Swede controlled it superbly before powering in a left-foot drive that goalkeeper Ricardo Pereira could only help palm into the net as Larsson celebrated his 40th goal of the season.

The goal made up for a penalty that Larsson missed in the first leg at Parkhead, where an own goal by Joos Valgaeren gave Boavista their draw and a glimpse of the final.

Few chances

The first half saw no shots on target and very few scoring chances as Boavista settled into a waiting game, willing to let Celtic do the running while the home side sought to grab scoring opportunities.

Celtic's pace won the possession and forced Jaime Pacheco's side to concede corners and long-range free kicks that were fended off by an untidy Boavista defense and confident goalkeeping by Portuguese international Ricardo.

The visitors were forced to make a change after 34 minutes when skipper Paul Lambert, hurt in a 16th minute collision with Silva, was replaced by Chris Sutton, making his first appearance since breaking a wrist in the Scottish League Cup final last month.

Brazilian striker Elpidio Silva had Boavista's best chance when he nearly poached a goal in the first half with a flicked header from a cross by Venezuelan Pedro Santos, which forced Celtic goalkeeper Robert Douglas' only real save of the match.

Silva threatened again just after halftime with another close-range header from a cross by compatriot Duda Ventura, but the ball went past Douglas' near post.

Pacheco brought off the tiring Silva for fellow Brazilian Luiz Claudio 20 minutes from time to inject much-needed pace to the Boavista attack, but the home side created few scoring chances.

In the main, it was a poor, untidy match with both teams giving away far too much possession far too cheaply in front of a crowd of 11,000 at the Bessa stadium, which is being rebuilt in time for Portugal to stage Euro 2004.

Don't write Celtic off in final, O'Neill says

OPORTO, Portugal (Reuters) -- Celtic will be the underdogs against Porto in the UEFA Cup final after struggling to beat Boavista 1-0 away in a dull semifinal, second-leg clash on Thursday, their manager Martin O'Neill said.

Swedish striker Henrik Larsson took what was his side's only real scoring chance in the 79th minute to give Celtic a 2-1 aggregate victory and put the former European champions through to their first European final since 1970.

Porto, meanwhile, cruised through to the May 21 final in Seville after drawing 0-0 with Lazio in Rome to win 4-1 on aggregate.

"With respect [to Boavista], Porto are different again. We played them last year in the Champions League and we won at Celtic and lost -- heavily -- here. It will be a hard game for us," O'Neill told journalists after the game.

"I think that Porto, having beaten Lazio, will be favorites to win. But we've been written off a few times. We'll go [to Seville] and do our best."

The Celtic manager said he had had a tense match as his side created few real chances and came within 11 minutes of a no-score draw that would have put Boavista through on the away goals rule.

"Obviously, I was concerned because I was hoping during the course of the match that we might create more chances in the game. We spurned one in the first half, and I always felt we could get the goal.

"But Boavista kept just dropping back in numbers, getting it clear and we didn't have any clear-cut chances. But the break fell to us over the two legs and I think we thoroughly merited a visit to the final."

Larsson's goal also made up for his having failed to give Celtic a first-leg lead when he missed a penalty in Glasgow.

"He's scored a lot of crucial goals and you don't get more crucial than the goal that gets us through to the final," O'Neill said.

O'Neill said he was relishing the final, as he confessed to being unable to remember his appearance as a Nottingham Forest player in the European Cup final 23 years ago.

"Obviously, it's a marvelous feeling and we'll go and enjoy it, as much as you possibly can. It's been a long time in coming," he said. "It genuinely has not sunk in. I'm just not myself at the moment."

Summary

Boavista (Portugal) 0 Celtic (Scotland) 1 - result

UEFA Cup semifinal, second leg

First leg: 1-1; Celtic win 2-1 on aggregate

Scorer: Henrik Larsson 79

Halftime: 0-0; Attendance: 11,000

Teams:

Boavista: 1-Ricardo Pereira; 16-Joaquim Martelinho, 3-Fernando Avalos, 5-Eder Silveira, 19-Mario Loja; 96-Filipe Anunciacao; 18-Pedro Santos, 27-Luis Pedrosa (25-Yuri 84), 6-Erivan Lima (21-Jocivalter 80); 8-Duda Ventura, 11-Elpidio Silva (26-Luiz Claudio 69)

Celtic: 20-Robert Douglas; 5-Joos Valgaeren (39-James Smith 75), 6-Dianbobo Balde, 35-Johan Mjallby, 17-Didier Agathe, 18-Neil Lennon, 14-Paul Lambert (9-Chris Sutton 34), 19-Stilian Petrov, 8-Alan Thompson, 10-John Hartson, 7-Henrik Larsson.

Referee: Valentin Ivanov (Russia)

 

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