Last season's UEFA Cup finalists Celtic have a Champions League group stage place within their grasp after an easy 4-0 win over MTK Budapest in their third qualifying round, first leg match on Wednesday.

Celtic, who also chalked up a 4-0 first-leg away win against Lithuania's Kaunas in the last round en route to a 5-0 aggregate win, went ahead in the 17th minute when prolific Swedish striker Henrik Larsson lobbed the goalkeeper from outside the penalty area.

French defender Didier Agathe doubled the lead in the 36th minute, Bulgarian Stilian Petrov scored the third in the 70th and Chris Sutton virtually killed the tie with an injury-time diving header.

MTK's best chance came in the 68th minute, when substitute striker Sandor Torghelle's header hit the crossbar.

"I am pleased with the result. We scored four goals away from home so we are in a very strong position to qualify for the group stage," said Celtic manager Martin O'Neill. MTV manager Sandor Egervari said: "After this result, our dream is basically over."

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