Celtic hit seven, but Larsson fails to score

CELTIC'S tour of Sweden began with a magnificent seven goals but none of them came from the man famous for wearing that number on his back at Parkhead, Henrik Larsson.

Larsson may have had a rare scoreless day but overall the Hoops had little difficulty overcoming amateur opponents who were made up of players from two tiny village sides.

Giant defender Stanislav Varga, who has been offered a new deal, opened the scoring and additions from Steve Guppy and Chris Sutton made it 3-0 at half-time.

The Hoops made nine changes at the break and completed a gentle work-out with a penalty from Stilian Petrov, two strikes from the forgotten man of last season David Fernandez and youngster Ross Wallace.

Manager Martin O'Neill was not there to witness it however as he had remained in the UK to undergo a minor operation.

O'Neill's absence may have been the reason why Celtic switched from the 3-5-2 system the Northern Irishman favours to play 4-4-2, with Stephen Crainey starting on the left side of defence and Jackie McNamara on the opposite flank.

Larsson is the biggest footballing superstar in his homeland and his arrival in tiny Kungshamn, which has a population of just 5,000, had been much anticipated.

Fellow Sweden international Magnus Hedman was another starter but both local heroes ended up playing just the first half and only the unsettled Crainey, who may have to move to rekindle his international career for Scotland, completed the 90 minutes.