Celtic 4 Aberdeen 0
A Henrik Larsson hat-trick against Aberdeen cured Celtic's European hangover by sending them five points clear at the top of the Bank of Scotland Premier League today.
The former Swedish international opened the scoring in the fourth minute against the Dons before adding a second 22 minutes later as the Hoops recovered from their Champions League defeat at Anderlecht in style.
Chris Sutton struck from the penalty spot on the stroke of half-time after John Hartson had been felled by Russell Anderson.
Larsson then hit his third of the game 10 minutes after the break to take full advantage of Rangers' goalless draw at Livingston earlier in the day.
Despite Martin O'Neill's reluctance to heap too much pressure on Liam Miller, the youngster caught the eye again in the ninth minute with a piece of skill which deserved a goal. T
he Republic of Ireland Under-21 international skipped away from several challenges and pulled the back to Larsson, but the Swede pulled his right-foot shot just past the upright.
But Celtic still looked vulnerable at the back and were given a few a few scares before the goals followed. Paul Sheerin sent Mackie clean through, but his finishing let him down and he could only clip the ball across goal with Magnus Hedman beaten.
The home side were again let off the hook in the 20th minute after more slack play from Hedman and his defence. Scott Muirhead whipped in a good cross to the back post for Steve Tosh to play the ball back into the danger area but, with the goal gaping, Sheerin dragged his shot wide.
However, Aberdeen paid the price for those missed chances in the 26th minute after Anderson had given away a free-kick on the edge of his box for a foul on Hartson.
The visitors lined the wall up, but Thompson allowed Larsson to step up and curl a right-foot shot around the wall and into the bottom corner of the net. Then, the striker turned provider in the 42nd minute by picking out Hartson, who knocked the ball back to Sutton, but the former Blackburn man snatched at the chance and blazed over.
The Englishman, however, did get in on the act a minute before the break when Anderson fouled Hartson in the box and he blasted the penalty into the centre of the net.
But Larsson completed his second hat-trick of the season and notched his 12th goal of the season just 10 minutes into the second half. Sutton found Miller unmarked down the right flank and the youngster crossed into his path for the prolific hitman to side-foot the ball past Preece from five yards.
Hearts moved into third place on 17 points, six adrift of Rangers, with a 4-1 win at Partick Thistle. Andy Kirk scored twice with Mark De Vries and Stephen Simmons adding one each. Richard Waddell grabbed Thistle's consolation goal.
Hibernian beat Kilmarnock 3-1 with early goals from Colin Murdock and Derek Riordan. Colin Nish pulled one back to make it an uncomfortable last 10 minutes for the Easter Road side until Gary O'Connor scored in the 90th minute.