Larsson taking nothing for granted

Celtic striker Henrik Larsson insists he is not taking the club’s progression to the group stages of the Champions League for granted – despite tearing apart MTK Hungaria in Budapest.

The Hungarian champions must now travel to Parkhead for the second leg of the third qualifying round tie knowing they have little chance of overcoming their 4-0 deficit.

Head coach Sandor Egervari has already admitted his club’s “dream was ruined” by Celtic and that was largely down to Larsson.

The Swedish striker netted the opening goal that knocked much of the life out of their opponents and, when Didier Agathe tapped home the second, there was little chance of MTK fighting back.

More goals, from Stilian Petrov and a superb diving header in the last minute from Chris Sutton, all but killed off the Hungarians’ hopes.

But Larsson, who netted his 31st European goal for Celtic, insists he is more comfortable adopting a cautious approach.

He said: “I’m always a little bit careful so first of all we have to see this through but hopefully we have done enough in the first leg because it would be nice to play in the Champions League again.

“You always hope for a start like this and you always dream about it but you don’t count on it.

“It was a good performance and a great effort from the team.”

MTK’s opponents in the last round, HJK Helsinki, had warned of a physical team who resorted dirty tricks to win their place against Celtic.

Despite watching videos of the Budapest side in action, Larsson admits he did not know what to expect when he took to the pitch in the Ferenc Puskas Stadion.

He said: “You never really know what you’re up against in Europe so you are always worried before these game.

“We saw two different videos and the last one we saw had more tempo to the game so you’re never really all that sure.

“But we got a great start here and it a great result.

“Everyone is happy with this result but we still have to play well in the second game at Parkhead.”

The end result also provided a personal milestone for Larsson, whose goal made him the top goalscorer in Europe for a British club, eclipsing Ian Rush and Peter Lorimer.

Larsson simply remarked “It’s always nice to score goals” before admitting that Celtic’s run to the UEFA Cup final last year means Martin O’Neill’s men have largely lost the element of surprise in Europe now.

He added: “We played well last season so it’s hard to go and surprise a team because people know that we are a decent team.

“But obviously the more games you play in Europe, the better you become and we saw that in Hungary.”