Jonathan Gould made a stunning penalty save to launch Celtic on their way to the UEFA Cup second round at Hapoel Tel Aviv's expense at the Bloomfield Stadium in Israel last night.
Gould reacted furiously to being rested by coach John Barnes for Saturday's 2-0 win at Hibernian and was not slow at making public his displeasure at rival Dmitri Kharine being preferred.
However, Gould was first choice last night and justified that verdict with an agile penalty save to deny Hapoel substitute Ronen Harazi at a time when the home team were threatening Celtic's 2-0 first-round first-leg advantage.
Gould's stop effectively put a halt to Hapoel's charge and within three minutes Celtic had killed off the tie as a contest with a vital away strike from prolific Swede Henrik Larsson, who shot to the net from the edge of the area.
Larsson added to his double at Parkhead in emphatic fashion after fine work on the left-hand side from substitute Morten Wieghorst who fed the ball into his path for the goal to put Celtic on course for victory.
HAPOEL TEL-AVIV: Elimelech, Cohen (Balali 79), Gershon, Ohaion, Antebi, Rupnik, Racunica, Bakhar (Elkayam 73), Pisont, Toema (Harazi 45), Cimirotic. Subs Not Used: Rahmin, Hillel, Afek, Kbada. Booked: Bakhar.
CELTIC: Gould, Stubbs, Tebily, Riseth, Petrov (Wieghorst 62), McNamara, Burley, Lambert, Viduka (Berkovic 74), Moravcik (Blinker 68), Larsson. Subs Not Used: Kharine, Petta, Burchill, Mjallby. Goal: Larsson 63.
Referee: J Arceo (Spain).
