One goal was all it needed to clinch the game, and it was really Celtic's only chance at goal. Celtic never played well at all tonight, but luck was on our side, as we wanted it more than the cheating Boavista side.
Boavista shamed European football tonight in the way that they time wasted, cheated and tried to wind up the Celtic players. Before Larsson scored, they did not at once look anywhere near scoring and certainly did not deserve to be in a European Final.
Celtic started off the game in a frantic style, but began to get sloppy once Paul Lambert had to be substituted on 34 minutes: he was replaced by Chris Sutton.
At half time, everyone knew Celtic had to go for the winner, as Boavista looked content with a 0-0 draw at home, which really is quite pathetic.
It was not looking our night, as mistakes by our defence should have been capatalised on by Boavista.
But once again, our saviour came in the shape of a certain Swedish centre forward. Making a run, he tried to slip the ball through to Hartson but a lucky deflection brought the ball to Larsson, who cooly chipped the ball over the Boavista goalkeeper.
From then on it was a case of booting the ball up the park and wait for the final whistle to sound.
When it did sound, rapturous cheers from the travelling Celtic support echoed all through the stadium.
Overall, Celtic deserved to win tonight, it would have been daylight robbery if Boavista emerged into the final. But we are there, and that is all that matters. The full extent of what this team have done has not sunk in yet, but we are there on May 21st, where we will meet FC Porto.
Seville, here we come!
Celtic:
Douglas - 7
Valgaeren - 6 (Smith 75) - 6
Balde - 7
Mjallby - 7
Thompson - 7
Lennon - 9
Lambert - 7 (Sutton 34) - 7
Petrov - 7
Agathe - 7
Larsson - 8
Hartson - 7
Celtic-Mad Man of the Match: NEIL LENNON