Henrik Larsson answered his critics with a hat-trick as Celtic swept aside the challenge of Lithuanian minnows Suduva.

And it allowed the Swede to become the joint top scorer for a Scottish side in European competition, equalling Ally McCoist's 21 goals.

Celtic could even afford to play the dying minutes with only 10 men after Momo Sylla went off for treatment for an injury.

Larsson did the damage in the first half and Stilian Petrov and Chris Sutton provided the other goals before Suduva could gather their thoughts at the break.

Tomas Radzinevicius provided a consolation goal for the visitors in the closing moments, but by then Paul Lambert, John Hartson and Joos Valgaeren had added the icing to the Celtic cake.

The consolation of the Uefa Cup appeared to do little to excite the Scottish champions or their fans.

But the visit of struggling Suduva offered the opportunity for Celtic to put that and some unconvincing performances in the Scottish Premier League behind them.

Hartson, who scored the only goal of the game against Hibernian on Saturday, was rewarded with a place on the bench as O'Neill made five changes and kept faith with an off-form Larsson.

Robert Douglas, Sutton, Lambert, Stilian Petrov and Sylla came in, with Hartson, Jonathan Gould, Jackie McNamara, Alan Thompson and Didier Agathe dropping out.

What O'Neill would probably regard as close to his first choice laid siege on the Suduva goal from the start as Sutton, Neil Lennon, Larsson and Petrov forced saves from Gytis Padihanskas.

The whole of Celtic Park breathed a sigh of relief in the 15th minute when Larsson finally hit the back of the net.

Sylla skipped away from Nerijus Devetinas and crossed for the Swede to fire home off the crossbar from close range.

Larsson provided his own answer to his critics when he scored his and Celtic's second in the 23rd minute, heading home Steve Guppy's cross.