Celtic were dramatically denied a place in the fourth round of the UEFA Cup after a penalty shoot-out defeat to Valencia tonight. Henrik Larsson had pulled the side level on aggregate with his strike on the stroke of half-time to become the club's all-time top European scorer with 17 goals.
But the Spanish side won 5-4 in sudden death with Mista's spot-kick after Joos Valgaeren had his penalty saved. Lambert and Thompson scored easily for Celtic and Carew also kept his nerve. But Vicente's spot kick was saved before regular penalty taker Larsson blasted his effort over the bar.
De los Santos brought the scores back on level terms, but Petrov fired wide to give Valencia hope. Sanchez put the Spaniards in front and Sutton equalised before Ayala's penalty was saved to take it to sudden death. Hartson fired into the roof of the net and Pellegrino also scored, but Valgaeren missed at the second attempt before Mista stepped up to put his side in the fourth round.
Elsewhere, Italy striker Christian Vieri scored a hat-trick as Inter Milan beat Ipswich Town 4-1 in their UEFA Cup third-round, second-leg tie. The result secured put the Serie A leaders into the fourth round 4-2 on aggregate after the English side won the first leg 1-0.
Filed by Sinéad Kissane
