Larsson provides the tonic

Celtic - 8 Gytis Padihanskas - 1After their disappointing exit from the Champions League, this was just the tonic for Celtic fans. As the scoreline suggests, it was little more than a practice session for the home side.

It was a procession towards goalkeeper Gytis Padihanskas and the goals came thick and fast. Even before scoring, Celtic missed half-a-dozen outstanding chances. But they also had Ulrik Laursen booked for a 12th minute foul on Dainius Suilauskas.

But after his well-publicised misses against Motherwell and Hibernian on Saturday, Henrik Larsson squandered another glorious chance in the 10th minute.

He climbed above Gvidas Grigas to reach Steve Guppy's inviting cross, but he somehow headed wide from five yards.

Petrov almost broke the deadlock in the 13th minute after good work by Chris Sutton, but Padihanskas came off his line to deny him.

The first goal came after 16 minutes when Henrik Larsson nipped in front of Grigas to fire home a Momo Sylla cross, and there were four more before the interval.

Larsson headed a Steve Guppy free kick into the net for the second; Stilian Petrov made it 3-0 with a volley, and Larsson completed his hat-trick when he cleverly chipped the goalkeeper.

That left Chris Sutton to get in on the act after 35 minutes, following good work by Guppy and Larsson.

Suduva's misery was compounded by bookings for Nerijus Sidlauskas and Dainius Suilauskas, who was cautioned for elbowing Petrov, but it got even worse for the visitors four minutes after the restart when Celtic were gifted a sixth goal after a blunder by the helpless Suduva goalkeeper.

On 50 minutes Padihanskas did well to block a Larsson free kick, but Paul Lambert was on hand to head home the rebound.

Petrov was booked for dissent - or perhaps stupidity in the circumstances - after an hour, and at the same time Celtic replaced Larsson, Neil Lennon and Laursen with John Hartson, David Fernandez and Stephen Crainey.

Hartson hit the bar with a header almost immediately and then the post as struggling Suduva failed to stem the tide. But it was third time lucky for the Welshman after 72 minutes when he stroked home a Petrov pass.

Hartson then provided the cross for Joos Valgaeren to head the eighth goal seven minutes from the end.

Suduva did manage one joyful moment when Tomas Radzinevicius scored in the final minute.

Guardian Service

CELTIC: Douglas, Valgaeren, Balde, Laursen (Crainey 60), Sylla, Lambert, Lennon (Fernandez 60), Petrov, Guppy, Larsson (Hartson 61), Sutton. Subs Not Used: Gould, McNamara, Thompson, Agathe. Booked: Laursen, Petrov. Goals: Larsson 16, 24, Petrov 27, Larsson 29, Sutton 35, Lambert 50, Hartson 72, Valgaeren 83.

FK SUDUVA: Padihanskas, Sendzikas, Suilauskas, Grigas, Devetinus, Kunevicius, Adomaitus (Saulius Kraipavicius 77), Zitinskas (Stankevicius 82), Sidlauskas (Hctiulis 45), Slavickas, Radzinevicius. Subs Not Used: Balnys, Klevinskas, Andrius Larcenka, Rukavicius. Booked: Sidlauskas, Suilauskas, Padihanskas. Goals: Radzinevicius 90.

Referee: M Liva (Czech Rep).

The former Chelsea striker, Ian Hutchinson, has died at the age of 54 after a long illness. He scored the equaliser in the 1970 FA Cup final against Leeds and set up the winner in the replay with a trademark long throw.

"He was a 110 per cent player and I think that was why he went down ever so well at Chelsea," said former team-mate Ron Harris.