Celtic blow Anderlecht away

Celtic 3-1 Anderlecht

Match photos

Celtic maintained their 100% home record in the Champions League as Anderlecht were demolished by a first half storm in Glasgow.

Martin O'Neill's side got off to a wonderful start with goals from Henrik Larsson and Liam Miller inside 17 minutes.

And Chris Sutton added another goal before the half hour as the Belgians buckled under the weight of Celtic's relentless pressure.

With the game over as a contest, the second half was rather disjointed and Aruna Dindane grabbed a goal for the visitors.

O'Neill eyes tight finish

Celtic are now second in Group A with six points, a point behind Lyon, while Bayern Munich, who are the next visitors to Glasgow, have five - with Anderlecht bringing up the rear with four.

Celtic started at a whirlwind pace and opened the scoring after 12 minutes when Larsson grabbed his first goal of the group phase.

Didier Agathe, playing in an unaccustomed full-back role, linked with John Hartson and delivered a wonderful cross for the prolific Swede to nod home from six yards.

Within five minutes the home side had doubled their advantage when a long ball from Jackie McNamara was headed into the path of Miller by Hartson and the young Irishman hammered an angled shot into the net from 10 yards.

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Miller, 22, was at the heart of Celtic's most promising moves as he broke from midfield to get behind the Anderlecht defence time after time.

A deep cross from Miller had keeper Daniel Zitka beaten but the lunging Larsson could not turn the ball in at the back post.

And Zitka had to produce an acrobatic save to keep out a Stilian Petrov header after a chipped cut-back from the busy Miller.

With 29 minutes gone the Anderlecht keeper was beaten again when Hartson flicked on Petrov's corner at the near post and Sutton flew in to head the ball home from a central position.

Miller broke clear again in the 42nd minute and found Larsson with his back to goal inside the six yards but the striker's attempted back flick was blocked.

Liam Miller fires home the second goal of the night

Miller was free again a minute before the interval but held on to the ball too long and his cut-back was held by Zitka with Sutton and Petrov waiting to pounce.

The visitors briefly threatened to rally after the break and Aruna found himself in a good position to score but was crowded out by the Celtic defence.

The home team were still a threat and Hartson saw Zitka save his stinging shot from 18 yards after 55 minutes.

With 75 minutes remaining, the speedy Aruna had his heels clipped by Bobo Balde in the penalty area.

Magnus Hedman saved Ivica Mornar's weak spot kick and the Celtic keeper managed to block Christian Wilhelmsson's follow up but Aruna was on hand to lash the ball high into the net.

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Celtic: Hedman, Varga, Balde, McNamara, Agathe, Miller, Lennon, Sutton, Petrov, Hartson, Larsson. Subs: Douglas, Gray, Sylla, Maloney, Wallace, Mjallby, Kennedy.

Anderlecht: Zitka, Zewlakow, Tihinen, Kompany, Deschacht, Wilhelmsson, Hendrikx, Hasi, Baseggio, Dindane, Mornar. Subs: Peersman, Ilic, Vanderhaeghe, Kolar, Zetterberg, MacDonald, Ngalula Mbuyi.

Referee: Kyros Vassaras (Greece)