Celtic told to target European glory

Yesterday was fiesta day in the east end of Glasgow, despite the absence of the beatific sunshine that bathed Hampden Park on Saturday, when Scott Brown captained Celtic to a second successive clean sweep of the Scottish honours.

Immediately after the 2-0 victory over Motherwell in the Scottish Cup final, the skipper and his team-mates returned to Parkhead on an open-top bus to bask in the adulation of their massed support. Scarcely had the streets cleared after those celebrations than the throngs reassembled to salute Brown in his testimonial match against the Republic of Ireland, which ended in a 2-2 draw. The Irish, of course, were under the supervision of Martin O’neill, whose presence was particularly timely on the eve of the 15th anniversary of Celtic’s Uefa Cup final in Seville.

On that sweltering Spanish night Henrik Larsson scored twice and the Swede appeared for yesterday’s warm-up with Brown and the other Celtic players. In 2003, Larsson’s contribution was insufficient to overcome Jose Mourinho’s Porto side, who went on to win the Champions League the following season.

Thwarted they may have been, 15 years ago, but the presence of O’neill and Larsson evoked memories of an era and targets that look out of reach for this Celtic side.

After the revels, O’neill – the last Celtic manager to win the Scottish treble before Brendan Rodgers – assessed the quality of his successor’s feat. “To do it twice on the trot is excellent. The next step now is to try to achieve success in Europe.”