O'Neill keen to add to squad as Celtic hammer Hungarians

Published on Thursday 14 August 2003 01:00

CELTIC manager Martin O’Neill wants to add to his squad now the club are virtually assured a place in the group stage of the Champions League.

Henrik Larsson, Didier Agathe, Stilian Petrov and Chris Sutton were on target as Celtic destroyed MTK Hungaria 4-0 in the first leg of the third qualifying round in Budapest.

The margin of victory surprised O’Neill and he hopes the prospect of money-spinning ties against Europe’s finest will encourage the club’s directors to free funds for him to sign players.

Celtic yesterday reported annual losses of over 4million - despite last year’s 10m UEFA Cup final windfall.

However, O’Neill said: "I think if we are going into what is effectively the best football competition in the world then we would like, if possible, to add quality to the team.

"We are in a very strong position for the Champions League and we still have a couple of weeks left."

Rangers forward Peter Lovenkrands has promised the Ibrox faithful the players are determined to make their Champions League dream a reality.

That will take some doing now after the Scottish champions were held 1-1 at home last night by their Danish counterparts, FC Copenhagen.

Copenhagen must now be regarded as favourites to qualify for the group stages when the tie is completed in two weeks’ time.

But Lovenkrands, who scored his side’s goal in the eighth minute, insisted he and his team-mates could still make it to the big stage.

He said: "The fans were behind us and we owe it to them to go there and put on a performance. We can create a lot of chances on our day. I think we can definitely score."

Lovenkrands pounced to net his second goal in as many games after Copenhagen goalkeeper Balazs Raboczki had spilled a Mikel Arteta free-kick into his path.

The Danes’ good play was eventually rewarded by an equaliser early in the second half by Faroes Islands striker Todi Jonsson, who took advantage of a deflection to turn and fire past Stefan Klos.

Meanwhile, Dundee manager Jim Duffy insists his side will continue their attacking attitude into their first European tie for 29 years.

The Dark Blues face Vllaznia in the first leg of the UEFA Cup qualifying round tonight in Albania.

While other clubs opt for the cautious approach to an away leg in Europe, Duffy is determined his team will not sacrifice their forward policy.

He said: "We think that we have a team capable of causing most sides problems and there’s no way we will be looking just to camp in."