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Opponent Bordeaux
Score 1 (2) - 2 (3)
Date 9/11/00
Venue Celtic Park

A goal five minutes from the end of extra time by Lilian Laslandes dumped Celtic out of the Uefa Cup. It was the French international's second strike of a memorable game that the home side thought was theirs when Lubo Moravcik fired them into the lead early in the second half. But Laslandes wiped out that deficit late in normal time and struck again when the legs were at their weariest to make this a week to forget for the Glasgow giants.

Rangers may still be in this competition but only because they were knocked out of the Champions League two days earlier. Celtic, like their bitter rivals across the city, had been so close to glory - but were caught out on the break and paid the price.

Before the game Celtic manager Martin O'Neill had claimed his side would attack as they simply didn't know how to play for a goalless draw. And so it proved with wingers Bobby Petta and Didier Agathe attacking from the flanks from the off.

Petta was kicked over a couple of times as he tormented his opponents on the left but it was Agathe on the other flank who was to have more influence as the half wore on. He repeatedly sent over crosses despite having more than one marker to contend with as Celtic kept Bordeaux under almost constant pressure.

But it was a good old-fashioned passing move from the heart of midfield that first opened up the visitors' defence. Stilian Petrov was involved in it, enjoying one-twos with Agathe and then Henrik Larsson to set up Chris Sutton with what should have been a routine tap-in. The flag was up anyway but somehow the former Chelsea man sidefooted wide to record a worse miss than the Dynamo Kiev striker at Manchester United last night.

Sutton had been an injury worry before kick-off but O'Neill had in the end been forced to make two changes from the side that won 1-0 at Kilmarnock on Sunday.

With Paul lambert a long-term injury casualty and Alan Thompson ineligible, in came Agathe and Moravcik. Celtic didn't look like a side disrupted but another enforced change had to be made in the 40th minute when Jackie McNamara, who had been hurt sliding in with Lassina Diabate, was unable to continue and young Colin Healy replaced him.

Larsson was busy but his shooting in the first 45 minutes was woeful and he received a telling off from referee Sergey Schmolik for leaving his foot in on goalkeeper Ulrich Rame.

Bordeaux had threatened rarely before the break and Christophe Dugarry, the man who had scored in the first leg, was booed whenever he touched the ball. He did little with it during that period although for all Celtic's domination over the first 45 minutes they too had failed to produce anything that tipped the tie decisively in their favour.

A goal had to come soon and it fell to Celtic just eight minutes after the restart. Petta beat David Jemmali on the left and when Alain Roche did nothing more than head the ball a few yards upfield Moravcik belted it back to beat Rame low to his right.

It was no surprise the home side had taken the lead as minutes earlier Larsson had forced Rame into a breathtaking tip-over from a 25-yard free-kick after Sutton had been bundled over.

It was advantage Celtic although the objective was still the same for Bordeaux - they had to score to stay alive. Sutton forced Rame into a save from distance and the goalkeeper survived a few more nervous moments when the ball was in his penalty area.

Bordeaux had to do something to stay in the game and eventually they did equalise through Laslandes in the 78th minute. Jemmali made headway down the right, Laurent Batlles was first to the ball into the box and he turned to set up the number nine for a stab past Jonathan Gould.

O'Neill had been spot on - it had never been a game that had 0-0 written on it. Neither side fashioned many opportunities inn the first period of extra-time, although Joos Valgaeren deserves plaudits for the way he tracked Dugarry back to snub his run at the crucial moment and Gould was able to gather.

In the second period it was Rame who needed to make a save, denying substitute Tommy Johnson after another replacement, Eyal Berkovic, had set him up. It was the move of the match and had been begun deep in defence by Valgaeren and involved some excellent head tennis by Sutton and Petrov to get the ball under control. But then Laslandes struck to put his side into the lead with just five minutes remaining on the clock.

Johan Mjallby and Valgaeren had been rocks in defence and Tom Boyd too had held firm but when red-booted substitute Bruno Basto played the ball to Laslandes down the inside right channel the opportunity for a shot was there.

It was a top-class effort, a searing curl over Gould and into the vacant net over the goalkeeper's right-hand shoulder. Bordeaux were home and, fittingly for a wine-producing region, dry once Laslandes' shot hit the net.