Hail Henrik!

This European Cup Final in 2006 will go down in history as the Henrik Larrson Final. There has been no finer player to grace the European stage than the Legendary striker who turns everything he touches to gold. Larsson truly is one of the all-time Greats and we in Scotland are blessed to have been able to worship him.

What a Final it was this evening. Arsenal's goalie was sent packing for a deliberate hauling down of the Barca attacker and then Sol Campbell does a Stephen McManus with a bullet header from a corner kick.

It all seems to be going pear-shaped for Barca as so-called World Player of the Year, Ronaldinho, plays a stinker again. I've never seen this player display any consistency which make him anything other than a luxury Barcelona should punt.

This is the very same player who regular readers will know I have highlighted as being a chancer and who never finished on a winning side against Celtic in four chances. The guy is a class one dud.

It was on 60 minutes that the Barca manager, who is well known for spitting on Rudi Vouller in the 1990 World Cup Quarter Final, tossed on oor Henke and changed the course of history. Larsson came up trumps again and provided two assists which grabbed the European Cup from jaws of defeat into a momentous victory. If I was Gordon Strachan I would haul Nakamura in front of a telly and tell him that's what he should be doing.

Larsson is a special talent. He really is. If you consider the non-performers tonight, excluding the Brazilian dud, you had Deco the Diver, the ex-Rangers journey man, and the Barca Captain. These 4 players all handicapped Barca and it took the Genius of Henrik Larsson to turn it all about.

Over and above this, Henrik's MVP performance tonight propelled Celtic into the Champions League group stages in the lofty heights of pot two. What a wonderful achievement for Celtic and Scotland.

Tonight is a victory for everybody. God Bless Henrik. God Bless Barcelona.

God Bless Celtic.

Celtic Swoop For Rangers Target

Derek Riordan is one of the most exciting talents to emerge from the Scottish youth ranks in recent years. While nobody else is in the class of Irish Internationalist Aiden McGeady, the Hibs player is leading the chasing pack.

So it was with fear and trepidation that the possibility of him going to Ibrox was the type of Scottish signing which hasn't caused anxiety in the Celtic support since Rangers signed Duncan Ferguson for 4.1m in 1993.

We would much rather have seen him exiled to Siberia with his mate Gary O'Conner than go to Ibrox. Then he couldn't come back and terrorize Celtic like he has been known to do. I personally am happy to see Rangers continue to have the current dumplins in their attacking ranks than a proven player of any calibre.

What has turned out to be a slap in the face for Rangers might be the turning point in Gordon Strachan's managerial career. If he can now sort out the defence by dropping Telfer and if he sees something is Caldwell which everybody else hasn't.

Let's hope so as Celtic's European destiny awaits them.

Finally, congratulations to Peter Grant for being the driving force behind a resurgent West Ham Utd. Good to see the Celtic force is strong in English football.

Scotland's Big Guns Qualify For the Champions League

The UEFA Cup is for Scotland's wee teams.

There. It's said as Hearts slapped down a "resurgent" Sheep side who were on top of the world for one game after thumping Hibs 4-0. Now that the silly season is over, we have Rangers doing what everybody knew and, what Davie Murray's bank manager feared, failing to qualify for Europe's tournament which matters.

The UEFA Cup has plummeted in prestige over the last three season since the high of Seville in 2003, when you consider that Middlesborough are one of the "big" teams in the competition. Well, being Scotland's twin representative with Scottish Division Two Champions Gretna qualifying for Europe for the first time every will be in good company when they enter the UEFA Cup next season.

So, apart from being the laughing stock of a nation, where do Rangers go from here? How do they follow up on something as exceptional as their "Buy A Brick" scheme to compensate for the 20m drop in revenue?

Well, obviously those fine representatives of the Rangers Supporters Trust succeed where the Gers board fail by trying to raise funds for their new manager by selling shares and giving the French man, who is of questionable quality relative to Big Eck, the targetted 5m they hope to raise.

What this makes you ask just who punted whom at the Crisis Ibrox club? It seems that there is less trust in the Frenchman than there was in McLeash. Is this the new low level which poor suffering Bears must deal with? Is it not enough that teams such as Hearts no longer maintain the status quo and now not only seek to replace their masters but actually do?

It certainly asks the question about the calibre of player that Le Guen will recruit. Rangers must wish they had the resource to be able to afford a player of the quality of Chris Sutton. Even after leaving Celtic this guy has so much to offer and would be the type of winner who would haul Rangers off thr floor but he, like Hearts, are out of Rangers's League.