Henrik Larsson looks set to win his fitness battle and take part in Celtic's UEFA Cup quarter-final, first leg match with Liverpool on Thursday. Larsson was forced to miss Celtic's weekend victory over Old Firm rivals Rangers as he continued to recover from a broken jaw, but the Swedish star has now been given the all-clear by the medical staff at Parkhead. Larsson said: "The jaw fracture has healed now, he said. The doctors have cleared me and I am now going to practise at 100%. All I can say is this is a big game that nobody wants to miss."
Meanwhile, Celtic manager Martin O'Neill will be without winger Didier Agathe, who will be out of action for up to six weeks after tearing his hamstring in the Old Firm derby. However, despite the possible absence of Agathe, O'Neill feels that Celtic are in the right frame of mind to take on Liverpool, especially after the boost of victory over Rangers.
"The result was well deserved and it puts us in a great frame of mind for Thursday's game against Liverpool. The Liverpool game is a separate tournament and a separate set of circumstances. However, it is better for us to go into the game having beaten Rangers than having lost at the weekend," he said.
"There is always pressure on us to win games, but there was even more on us going into this particular match because, if we had lost, Rangers would have gone nine points clear. Every game that we play is difficult and there are many more hard games for us still to go - including one at Ibrox - but it's given us a great start to the next fortnight," O'Neill added.
Filed by Rob Wright
