It is quite incredible to think that 19 years have now elapsed since Celtic humbled Graeme Souness’ Blackburn Rovers in the second round of the UEFA Cup at Ewood Park.
After a poor performance in the first leg, which Celtic won 1-0, the Hoops were supposed to be eliminated from the competition in the return fixture. Indeed, it was made public knowledge that Graeme Souness felt the first meeting between the sides had been “men against boys”, and that his players would make amends for their undeserved defeat by setting the record straight on English soil.
What happened was something quite different as a fired up Celtic team put Blackburn to the sword. Henrik Larsson opened the scoring in the early stages and former Blackburn striker, Chris Sutton, converted a stunning header in the second half.
The 2-0 victory ensured it was actually “men against Bhoys” and Celtic advanced to the third round of the competition without breaking sweat.
