Celtic let it slip through hands

SOCCER / Lyon 3 Celtic 2: Heartache came late for Celtic last night. On the verge of history, with progress into the knockout stage tantalisingly close, the visitors saw their UEFA Champions League aspirations jettisoned from the penalty spot in the dying moments.

Failure may have been glorious, but that will do little to ease the pain today. Having twice wrested back their advantage, the point needed to secure their passage slipped through their fingers four minutes from time. Bobo Balde, the man sent off in last season's UEFA Cup final, handled Peguy Luyindula's header.

Juninho, Lyon's tormentor in chief, spanked the penalty into the corner. While Lyon erupted, for Celtic were awarded the consolation of a UEFA Cup place to ease their departure from this competition. From top of the group, they finished third.

That this was likely to prove an evening laced with excruciating tension was expected, though there was little chance of the nerves choking the cavalier. The interval provided a pause for breath after the frenzied glory of the first period which had seen goals, as well as the temporary leadership of the group, traded almost flippantly.

Perhaps the thrills were to be expected. Celtic may have arrived here without a win under Martin O'Neill on their travels in this competition, but they have never shied from a bold approach. Having surrendered an early deficit and with their defence creaking alarmingly as Lyon's trio of rapid attacking midfielders tore at them from deep, they survived, found a foothold and struck ruthlessly when presented with their first chance.

It took a pinball in the area to flummox a home defence too often prone to jitters. A ricochet off Chris Sutton midway through the half should have been cleared by Claudio Cacapa, but the Olympique captain panicked and air-kicked with the loose ball bouncing bizarrely through his legs. Henrik Larsson pounced only to have his shot blocked by Gregory Coupet, and John Hartson, unattended at the far post, hammered low through the muddle in the six-yard box to prompt parity.

The locals only had their early profligacy to blame. So dominant had Lyon been in the early exchanges - when Juninho had been at his most influential and Sidney Govou, Luyindula and Florent Malouda at their most pesky - the French champions' progress into the knockout stage for the first time since 2001 should have been long assured.

Luyindula had served notice of home intent within the opening two minutes, dispossessing Liam Miller and sprinting unchecked down the left flank before feeding Giovane Elber in the centre. The Brazilian striker turned Stanislav Varga too easily for comfort and forced Magnus Hedman to turn away a low drive.

Elber subsequently belted wide of the Swede's right-hand post with Luyindula flicking a back-header wide from point-blank range though, by then, Lyon led.

Balde chopped down Govou for Juninho to curl a magnificent 25-yard free-kick on to the bar.With Hedman floored and helpless, Elber nodded into the empty net.

If O'Neill's decision to play a flat back four had been designed to douse Lyon's early attacking intent it had failed spectacularly but, once Hartson had plundered, Celtic slipped more comfortably into their adopted system. But the initiative was taken back immediately after the interval.

Juninho, such a buzzing presence in the early stages, had been becalmed too long. Once he stirred, the home side clicked and Celtic wilted. It was the diminutive Brazilian who picked up possession some 28 yards from goal to strike an optimistic, swerving shot which curled viciously - Varga pulling out of a header en route - to bounce down and beyond Hedman.

The concession was tinged with the surreal, so innocuous had the shot been in flight, but Lyon could not capitalise with luck promptly riding to Celtic's rescue.

Jeremy Berthod, in rare possession deep inside his own half amid the incessant home pressure, battered his clearance off the substitute Momo Sylla. The loose ball cannoned into the area for Sutton, alert while others dithered, to poke home and send the travelling supporters into temporary delirium.

Guardian service

OLYMPIQUE LYONNAIS (4-2-3-1): Coupet; Reveillere, Cacapa, Edmilson, Berthod (Carriere, 77) ; Diarra, Juninho (Muller, 89); Govou, Luyindula, Malouda; Elber (Dhorasoo, 87). Subs not used: Vercoutre, Deflandre, Essien, Viale.

CELTIC (4-4-2): Hedman; Mjallby, Balde, Varga, Miller; Lennon, Petrov, Gray (Wallace, 68), Sutton (Kennedy, 80); Larsson, Hartson (Sylla, 68). Subs not used: Douglas, Lambert, Maloney, Crainey. Booked: Lennon, Hartson, Balde.

Referee: U Meier (Switzerland).