SOCCER/UEFA fallout: Kevin McCarra looks at the repercussions of theclub's ultimately unsuccessful runin Europe

It is the courageous who have to endure the greatest pain. Had Celtic deferred to the superior finesse of Porto it would have been a night of restrained poignancy in Spain. Their endeavour and Henrik Larsson's two equalisers in the 3-2 defeat, however, branded the memories of this UEFA Cup final on to their brains. The occasion was unforgettable all right, but not as they had wished.

Though it was galling to see Porto players dive and waste time, Jose Mourinho's mobile team more or less merited the win that Derlei seized, in the 25th minute of extra-time, with his second goal.

For Celtic now, the future comes in stages. Level on points with Rangers, they could still retain the Scottish Premier League in their last fixture.

Come Sunday, when they go to Kilmarnock, that will seem an issue of supreme urgency, but it did not weigh heavily on bleary-eyed fans who nursed their complaining bodies along the platform at Seville's Santa Justa station yesterday morning. Irrespective of the outcomes at Rugby Park and Ibrox, this will forever be the year of Celtic's UEFA Cup exploits.

No one expected Martin O'Neill's side to play for the trophy itself, and few have much confidence that a Scottish club will ever again be spotted in a European final. The manager does not enjoy the luxury of such fatalism. O'Neill has to decide what to do next now that his third transfixing season in Glasgow is coming to a close.

The world-weary will say that his next move should be to get out. Having achieved far more than was ever imagined, O'Neill could be whittled down by the law of diminishing returns if he stays. In practice, though, there are few suitable posts available in England.

Casting his eyes round the Estadio Olimpico at the end, O'Neill saw more than an emotional spectacle. There were some 35,000 Celtic supporters in the ground and two or three times as many would have been present had there been room for them. Scotland is a little country, but few clubs anywhere are as big as Celtic.

There will be speculation once more about the Scottish champions entering the English scene. It is patronising to suppose that Celtic have anything left to prove. If the European programme really were an application form for the Premiership, the club would long since have been given a senior position.

The restructuring of British football can begin only if chairmen in England are prepared to fight UEFA over the very structure of football, and there is no sign that they believe the Old Firm to be worth the struggle in commercial terms.

Assuming O'Neill remains at Celtic Park, he will have to keep on finding ways of operating within the existing limits.

He will crave change, since this side may have peaked. Cherished as the successes against Liverpool and Celta Vigo are, Porto were the best team they had faced and Celtic were never ahead. Neil Lennon worked in front of the defence, yet neither he nor any other midfielder checked Deco, the Brazil-born Portugal international.

Derlei, another Brazilian, was part of an attack that was never curbed. Two of Celtic's three centre-backs suffered conspicuously. Bobo Balde was sent off, and Joos Valgaeren would have been if O'Neill had not substituted him. These men, though, are, respectively, the Celtic supporters' player of the year and a Belgian international.

It is hard, in other words, for Celtic to get better players. The club might turn a small profit rather than declare its usual loss this season, but O'Neill will have to surpass even his habitual level of advocacy if the board are to be persuaded they should substantially increase the £16 million debt.

Nonetheless, there is a dilemma for the directors. Having raised their customers' expectations, a willingness to meet them has to be shown. Since Lubomir Moravcik's retirement, O'Neill has lacked an imaginative schemer and Stilian Petrov must have exasperated him in Seville with an inability to link with the attack. At 23, the Bulgarian captain should have used the final to make Europe accept his standing.

Larsson often had to fight single-handed and still came close to triumphing. Apart from the headed goals, he turned, ran and passed his way to domination of a skittish Porto defence in probably the finest display of his career. The attacker had dedicated himself to this final and the misery at the close probed the core of his being.

He will leave Celtic next summer. The club's feats ought to make the fans look ahead eagerly, but the prospect of Larsson's departure has them averting their eyes from the future.

Guardian Service