Celtic suffer a Swiss nightmare

Basle 2 Celtic 0 3-3 on aggregate; Basle win on away goals

Celtic crashed out of the Champions' League last night after a disastrous evening in the St Jakob stadium. The Swiss outfit set their sights on a 2-0 win, having grabbed a vital away goal at Parkhead a fortnight ago, and they achieved it with a pair of first-half goals to deny the Scottish side a place in today's group-stages draw.

Basle, beaten 3-1 in the first leg, put Celtic's back four under siege from the first whistle. The Glasgow giants could have had no complaints about going behind on the night after seven minutes. Hakan Yakin slid the ball through to Christian Gimenez, and he coolly slotted the ball past the advancing Celtic goalkeeper Robert Douglas.

Just two minutes later the Swiss side were almost on level terms, with the Celtic defence easily exposed again. Bobo Baldé gave the ball away and Julio Rossi comfortably rounded him, but dragged his effort just past the upright.

The Scottish champions were rocking, but they almost pinched an away goal in the 17th minute, but Henrik Larsson's header was straight at the grateful Basle goalkeeper Pascal Zuberbühler.

The Hoops' night went from bad to worse in the 22nd minute when Basle pulled themselves back on level terms. Sébastian Barberis swung a corner invitingly to the back post and Murat Yakin came in forcefully to to head past Douglas.

Celtic now needed to score to take their place in today's Champions' League draw. Baldé twice came close before the break but twice Zuberbühler produced fine saves to keep out headers from the giant Frenchman.

Desperate measures were required and Martin O'Neill made a double substitution at the break, with Steve Guppy and Didier Agathe coming on in place of Ulrik Laursen and Paul Lambert.

Zuberbühler would not be beaten, though, and made a great save early in the second half from John Hartson. Play swung from end to end, and Chris Sutton should have scored in the dying moments, but his shot went past a post as Celtic had to settle for a place in the the Uefa Cup.

Basle: Zuberbühler; Quennoz, Vila Varela (Degn, 61), Hakan Yakin, Barberis, Gimenez (Koumantarakis, 85), Murat Yakin, Duruz, Cantaluppi, Ergic, Rossi (Tum, 71). Substitutes not used: Savic, Rapo (gk), Streller, Thimothée.

Celtic: Douglas; Valgaeren, Baldé, Mjallby, Laursen (Agathe, h-t), Sylla (Hartson, 71), Lambert (Guppy, h-t), Lennon, Petrov, Larsson, Sutton. Substitutes not used: McNamara, Fernandez, Hedman (gk), Crainey.

Referee: A Frisk (Sweden).