Soccer: Celtic beat 10-man Dundee 4-0 at Dens Park.

Dundee 0 Celtic 4

Henrik Larsson hit two goals as Celtic beat 10-man Dundee 4-0 at Dens Park.

The Swede took his season's tally to six, but it was a stunning strike from Stilian Petrov that grabbed the attention.

It turned out to be a difficult night for Dundee boss Ivano Bonetti, with Walter Del Rio red-carded and Shaun Maloney completing his misery by scoring Celtic's fourth late on.

Dundee found their former goalkeeper Robert Douglas in inspired form, as he produced a great save in the ninth minute to keep out Giorgi Nemsadze's free-kick.

Celtic's defence were again caught out on the half-hour when Nemsadze played Mark Robertson through, but Douglas again came out bravely to gather at the second attempt.

Douglas was clearly relishing playing in front of his former fans, and saved low to his right when Romano's cross was flicked on by Gavin Rae.

But against the run of play, Dundee went to sleep for the first time in the match, and Moravcik finally swung over the free-kick for Larsson to pop up and head Celtic undeservedly into the lead.

As expected the home side came roaring back at Celtic after the break, and the impressive Nemsadze let fly with a dipping long-range effort which had Douglas frantically back-pedalling.

Dundee paid the price for their desperate search for an equaliser as just three minutes later when Larsson headed his and Celtic's second of the match from Alan Thompson's dangerous corner.

Petrov, who replaced Moravcik, struck a wonderful free-kick in the 70th minute after Larsson had knocked the ball sideways, Petrov sending a 35-yard right-foot screamer past Jamie Langfield into the top corner.

But Dundee's troubles deepened in the 75th minute when Del Rio was sent off for a second bookable offence for hauling down Larsson.

Substitute John Hartson almost grabbed his first goal for Celtic with five minutes remaining via a speculative long-range effort which Langfield managed to push over the bar.

With three minutes left, substitute Maloney slotted home a fourth from a Paul Lambert through-ball.

Referee: A Freeland

Dundee: Jamie Langfield, Barry Smith, Marcello Marrocco, Alessandro Romano (Steven Robb, 90), Walter Del Rio, Zurab Khizanishvili, Georgi Nemsadze, Gavin Rae, Mark Robertson (Colin Bolan, 65), Beto Garrido, Steven Milne

Subs: Paul Mathers, Colin Bolan, Fabian Caballero, Steven Robb, Chris Coyne

Celtic: Robert Douglas, Didier Agathe, Joos Valgaeren, Dianbobo Balde, Johan Mjallby, Alan Thompson, Neil Lennon (Shaun Maloney, 79), Lubomir Moravcik (Stilian Petrov, 57), Paul Lambert, Chris Sutton (John Hartson, 72), Henrik Larsson

Subs: Dmitri Kharine, John Hartson, Stilian Petrov, Shaun Maloney, Stephen Crainey