Purple patch leaves the teams in green with much to be proud of:O'Neill wary of Hibernian attack as McLeish defends absent Latapy over accusations of greed

Officials and supporters of the Italian side were enraged to hear the song just seconds after the referee blew his whistle to confirm Liverpool's passage to the quarter-finals on Thursday.

One irate Italian journalist quizzed Liverpool manager

Gerard Houllier in the post-match press conference, claiming the choice of music was an insult to his countrymen.

''The announcer has written and apologised to both the Liverpool and the Roma teams,'' said club spokesman Ian Cotton.

''There was no disrespect intended to the Italian side and their representatives.

l Espanyol's Paraguayan-born defender Delio Cesar Toledo had his playing licence in Spain suspended yesterday on suspicion his papers were not in order.

The Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) said they had taken the action after finding ''indications of falsification'' in the player's Spanish documents.

Toledo joined Espanyol from Udinese, one of the Italian clubs found by the nation's football federation to have used players with false passports.

l Inter Milan have decided to stick by coach Marco Tardelli despite a humiliating 2-0 home defeat by Alaves in the UEFA Cup. Club director Giacinto Facchetti said yesterday that Tardelli would stay on in a bid to guide the crisis-hit side into Europe next season.

''We have faith in our coach. We still have two aims for this season. There are 15 league games left. We could get fourth place and qualify for the Champions League, or we could at least qualify for a UEFA Cup berth.''

Asked if he ruled out a change of coach in the near future, Facchetti said: ''Yes''.

Tardelli said earlier he would not quit Inter, who were brushed aside as Alaves reached the UEFA Cup quarter-finals, but would abide by the club's decision on his future.

Supporters threw seats and bottles on to the San Siro pitch at the end of Thursday's match, which was cut short by five minutes due to the ugly scenes.

Some fans also tried to storm the Inter directors' box and Tardelli had to run from the dug-out on to the pitch after the final whistle to avoid being hit by objects thrown from the terraces.

lRivaldo, Barcelona's Brazilian striker and 2000 World Player of the Year, said yesterday the Catalan press should get behind coach Llorenc Serra Ferrer instead of speculating about his future.

''The coach needs to be defended,'' he said. ''It's very difficult to train a team when the press are always saying the club is looking for a successor. There is no need for the club to look for another coach or for new players.''

Recent media reports have suggested the club is looking for a replacement for Serra Ferrer, who took over when Dutchman Louis van Gaal left last May.

Barcelona's irregular form in the league - which has seen them fall 11 points behind leaders Real Madrid - has been blamed on Serra Ferrer's changes in tactics and his failure to use players in their preferred positions.

CELTIC and Hibernian will get together for a top-of-the-table meeting at Parkhead tomorrow evening. Now there's a sentence that will bring a glow of pride to legions of green-and-white supporters, most of them with Hibee leanings. And why not?

Few people would have believed, or even contemplated, a scenario at the end of February which would have had Celtic in front, and even fewer would have imagined that Hibs would be in second place.

Yet this reality does illustrate that the SPL can come up with the odd little surprise here and there and, who knows, maybe there is more to come.

If Hibs, for example, win in Glasgow, the gap between the two teams would still be sizeable - 11 points - but the self-belief that such a result would bring to the Easter Road lot could be a springboard for better to follow as they chase a place in the Champions League.

Motherwell nearly held the leaders in midweek, but Hibs' plan will be much more enterprising. A draw might be a decent outcome from their point of view, but they have not come this far by taking the careful option. Alex McLeish will make sure his side are in there pitching for three points and, as the side is very much constructed around an attacking policy, that seems the sensible strategy.

Celtic manager Martin O'Neill anticipates such a policy. ''I am sure it will be a more open game than against Motherwell. Both games we have played against them so far have been that way, although one was ruined by the wind.

They are talking of a Champions League place and I think they have done really, really well this season, and probably have exceeded their own expectations.

''They will be eager to get a result to sustain their challenge.''

Russell Latapy will be a notable absentee from the Hibs team and McLeish believes the club's supporters must start to come to terms with the fact his absence may be permanent before too long.

Latapy, currently on World Cup duty with Trinidad and Tobago, has rejected an extension to his current contract at Easter Road and McLeish now wants the player's future sorted out sooner rather than later.

He will sit down with him when he returns from the Caribbean to find out whether there is any chance of a deal being agreed. If not, he will go about finding a replacement and, although Eoin Jess is a candidate and McLeish is an admirer of the Aberdeen player, who is currently on loan at Bradford, wages could also be a stumbling block if he chooses to go down that route.

''Once Russell gets back, we'll sit down with him and get

everything out in the open, one way or another, rather than the ongoing speculation,'' McLeish said. ''I don't want anything to undermine the games we have remaining.

''It's been made out by some fans that he's being greedy, but that is not the case. He's been made offers far greater than we can afford and every man has the right to accept the best for himself and his family.''

Nick Colgan and Franck Sauzee have already committed themselves to the club but Stuart Lovell, Mixu Paatelainen, and Dirk Lehmann are all still out of contract.

''I would hope that the players will continue to give their all for the club even if they decide to leave at the end of the season. It would be a shame for them to come so far and then put the tools away. But I don't think they are made that way.''

Also missing from the Hibs line-up tomorrow is Lyndon Andrews, who is in the Caribbean with Latapy. Paatelainen is a doubt as he has a cold but McLeish expects him to train today.

Marc Libbra, the Easter Road club's new signing, is in the squad but is likely to be on the bench at best

The manager has been pleased with the form of young striker Tom McManus and he may be given the nod if Paatelainen does not make it. Grant Brebner will probably come back into the team.

McLeish does not believe his team can win the title, with Celtic doing no wrong, and it is the form of Rangers that concerns him more.

''If we can be neck and neck with Rangers going into the game against them here before the split, then we can talk up our chances, but I'd still say the target for us is third place,'' he said.

BOOKIES' VIEW: Celtic 4-9, Hibernian 6-1, draw 10-3.