Twenty one years ago today Celtic travelled to Blackburn, Lancashire for the second leg of the UEFA cup 2nd round tie and as you would expect they were backed by a large and noisy Celtic support…
Celtic held a slender advantage from the first leg a fortnight before as a Henrik Larsson goal at Celtic Park saw us win on a night when Martin O’Neill side were far from their best.
The arrogant English media had already written Celtic off for the return match at Ewood Park and the Blackburn Rovers skipper Garry Flitcroft even got in on the act by declaring it was ‘Men against Boys’ in the first leg, a term he borrowed form his gaffer the arrogant Graeme Souness.
Souness himself also stated before the return game that “if Celtic score one we will score three.” maybe he should have added that if Celtic score two his side will score none!
But the hacks, Flitcroft or even the former Rangers manager clearly hadn’t read the script. Yes we were maybe a bit off form in the first leg, but Celtic were a much better side than Blackburn Rovers, an uncomfortable truth that more than one English side would discover before that season was over.
Celtic proved that on the park and that man Henrik Larsson gave the Hoops an early lead, much to the delight of the large travelling support. The three goals that Souness was talking about never arrived and we added a second when former Blackburn title winner Chris Sutton bulleted home a trademark header to solidify our place in the next round.
It was a comfortable a game as we had on the run to the final in Seville. Blackburn Rovers talked the talk but Celtic shut them up. A very satisfying win indeed and a great away day victory in Europe for the Celtic support to enjoy.
Where at this game? Tell us about your evening at Blackburn in the comments section below…
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