Martin O'Neill decided to start with the unlikely formation of 4-4-2 with Didier Agathe and Jackie Mcnamara as the two wing backs. From the off it was clear that the game would be played at a fast pace, Celtic's midfield looked conformtable on the ball in the opening minutes and seemed a much more confident team than the team that was beat 1-0 in Brussels.

Hartson started up-front alongside Larsson with England hopeful Chris Sutton starting in the centre of midfield with Neil Lennon. Stilian Petrov and Liam Miller were the preferred choices on the wings and loan signing Micahel Gray had to make do with a place on the bench.

Twice within the opening 10 minutes Didier Agathe burst down the wings only to find his final ball cut out, however after some brilliant football by John Hartson on 12 minutes, Didier Agathe whipped in a delightful cross only for Larsson to head home into the far corner of the goal. The crowd erupted and Larsson was clearly over the moon, on that note i'd like to add how tremendous the crowd was last night, they spurred the Bhoys onto victory.

By this early point in the game Anderlecht were clearly rattled and seemed very nervy when on the ball. Before Anderlecht had time to survey the damage and consider how best to repair it, a crushing second blow was landed, after 19 minutes a lofted pass from Jackie Mcnamara at the back saw big Welsh forward John Hartson head the ball down beautifully for the on-running Liam Miller to smash the ball emphatically home and put Celtic 2-0 up.

Just 12 minutes later, he was at it again, bursting through in the right channel and firing over a deep cross which was directed back across goal by Stilian Petrov and acrobatically tipped over by the unfortunate Zitka. The hapless Anderlecht keeper was left without a prayer, however, when the resultant corner – fired over by Petrov and flicked on by Hartson – was crashed beyond him by Sutton, diving headlong to bullet the ball home.

The Belgians simply appeared to have no answer to Celtic’s forward forays and, three minutes before the break, they were fortunate not to find themselves four goals down. Once again, it was Miller who raced through in the right channel, this time on to a Hartson dummy, yet on this occasion the otherwise faultless Irishman should perhaps have gone directly for goal instead of attempting a pass for Larsson which Vincent Kompany successfully blocked.

The Bhoys went in at half time 3-0 up with their heads held high. Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson was at Celtic Park to monitor young Anderlecht centre back Vincent Kompany, but by half time he had seen enough and shortly left after half-time.

Just a couple of minutes into the second half, that Anderlecht created their best and only real chance of the match prior to the penalty, although once again Balde’s swift intervention prevented the much-vaunted Dindane Aruna testing Magnus Hedman in the Hoops goal.

Anderlecht's defence had tightened up in the second half and few clear cut chances were created, arguably the best however came in the 57th minute when, at the end of a patient passing move, Miller and Sutton combined to set up Hartson for a shot that Zitka did well to prevent skidding into the net.

By this point Celtic had taken their foot off the gear and in the 77th minute Anderlecht forward Aruna appeared to have been tripped by Bobo Balde, but of course he dived. A nervy looking Mornar stepped up to take the penalty and with 60,000 Celtic fans booing him he didn't look confident, he fired the ball low to Magnus Hedmans left only for the keeper to save it, Hedman produced another superb save on the follow-up but he couldn’t prevent Anderlecht’s Ivorian striker then smashing the ball home off the underside of the bar.

Victory had long since been secured, however, and Celtic now know that victory over Munich could very well put them into Champions League dreamland.

Manager Martin O'Neill was delighted with the stunning first half showing that earned Celtic an emphatic Group A victory against the Belgian Champions.

The Irishman said: "It was a tremendous first-half absolutely wonderful, we scored 3 and could of scored 5, in the second half we knew we couldn't keep the same level up but we were still in control of the game"

Martin O'Neill felt that Lyon's victory in Germany helped put the hoops recent victories into perspective.

Speaking after the game he said, "I've just heard that Lyon have won away in Munich. It's been a very tight group and that might show how well we played to beat Lyon a few weeks ago. Tonight though was just a great night to be a celtic supporter"

Parkhead captain Paul Lambert was delighted after his side revived their Champions League ambitions with a fine first half showing versus Anderlecht. Lambert watched on from the Sky TV studio after failing to recover in time from his troublesome ankle injury.

The skipper told Sky Sports, "The most important thing was to win the game. First half the job was done, although the 2nd half kind of petered out".

Goalscorer Henrik Larsson said Celtic did all they could to keep Anderlecht out in the 2nd half, "it was just a question of not letting them back into the game" the Swede told Sky Sports.

"I think it was a brilliant performance tonight. I think we were a little bit disappointed when we played them away from home. Tonight we showed them we are a good side".

When questioned on Liam Miller's outstanding performance he stated,"Tremendous, absolutely tremendous, he can go as far as he likes in football but only one word sums him up, Tremendous".

Celtic Team

(4-4-2)

Hedman - 7
Agathe - 8
Mcnamara - 7
Balde - 7
Varga - 7
Petrov - 7
Miller - 8 (Gray - 6)
Sutton - 8
Lennon - 7
Larsson - 8
Harton - 8 (Maloney - 5) (Sylla - 4)

Referee Kyros Vassaras (Greece)

Hoops Online Man of the match: Liam Miller

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