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It took Celtic only four minutes to break the deadlock. A flowing move down the right involving Didier Agathe, Chris Sutton and Stanislav Varga seemed to have foundered after Varga's cross was over-hit. But Alan Thompson retrieved the ball on the left and his cross was met by Larsson, who got in front of his marker to steer the ball past David Preece.
Minutes later Larsson ought to have made it two after excellent work by Liam Miller, who cut the ball back to the Swede, but his effort from six yards crept wide of the far post. The Dons came within inches of an equaliser after 20 minutes when Steve Tosh laid the ball into the path of Paul Sheerin 12 yards out, but his right-foot shot went marginally wide.
But all Aberdeen's good work counted for nothing when Larsson scored Celtic's second with a beautifully struck free kick from 20 yards, which curled round the Aberdeen wall, past the outstretched left-hand of Preece and into the bottom corner of the net. Six minutes later, Larsson was denied his hat-trick when he curled a free kick from an almost identical position towards the other corner, only to see the ball come back off the inside of the post, and Aberdeen were able to clear.
Celtic did make it three before half time after John Hartson was fouled in the box by Russell Anderson and Sutton calmly slotted the penalty past Preece shortly before the half drew to a close.
Larsson was not to be denied his hat-trick and it was duly completed after only 10 minutes of the second half, Miller doing the set-up work on the right and his cross was slid under the body of Preece by Larsson.
Celtic were almost gifted a fifth goal when Preece rushed out of his goal to clear a Bobo Balde pass, only to hit the ball straight at Eric Deloumeaux, but Anderson thumped the ball to safety before Larsson could knock the ball into the empty net. Hartson missed an excellent opportunity to get his name on the scoresheet five minutes later, turning the ball over the bar from close range. Aberdeen were denied a consolation goal when Maloney headed off the line from Anderson's scrambled effort.

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Teams

Celtic:- (3-5-2)
Hedman, Varga, Balde, Valgaeren, Agathe (Sylla 67), Lennon (Maloney 60), Miller, Sutton, Thompson (Gray 60), Larsson, Hartson.

Subs not used:- Douglas, Kennedy.

Goals:- Larsson 4, Larsson 28, Sutton pen 44, Larsson 55.



Aberdeen:- Preece, Deloumeaux, Anderson, McGuire, Tosh, Heikkinen, Sheerin, Clark, Muirhead, Booth (Foster 79), Mackie (Hinds 69).

Subs not used:- Hutton, Rutkiewicz, Tiernan.

Referee:- C Richmond

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