Tennent's Scottish Cup holders Celtic proved they can live without Henrik Larsson after gaining a comfortable victory at Pittodrie to keep their Double dream alive.

The Swedish striker gave manager Martin O'Neill a worrying pre-match blow by failing to shrug off a hamstring injury.

But even without Larsson, the champions-elect hardly missed his presence as John Hartson and Stilian Petrov produced the goals to put them alongside Rangers into tonight's semi-final draw.

The Welsh striker took some shine of the performance with a stupid late red card for kicking out at Jamie McAllister and will now miss Saturday's Scottish Premier League match between the two sides.

And despite the controversial Monday night slot the fans turned out in their numbers and were treated to a typical full-blooded cup encounter which also had a late Robbie Winters penalty miss.

The home fans were also hopeful of making it to the last four of a competition they last won in 1990 having become the only team to beat Celtic in the league this season at Pittodrie in December.

But they sadly wilted after an encouraging start in which they carved out two good openings inside the first three minutes after Petrov had wasted a good opportunity.

He should have done better in the very first minute when Hartson played him clean through, but he took the ball too far around keeper Peter Kjaer and the chance went astray.

Aberdeen always looked threatening on the attack, especially with striker Chris Sutton again being employed as a defender, and they went agonisingly close just a minute later.

Darren Mackie picked out Winters with a great pass and the striker controlled it before unleashing a fierce right-foot shot into the side-netting.

Aberdeen again carved out a chance moments later when Philip McGuire picked out Roberto Bisconti in the box, but his shot lacked the power or direction to trouble Robert Douglas.

But Celtic responded by taking the lead after just four minutes following a fabulous three-man move.

Bobo Balde found Petrov in the box and he beat Derek Whyte to pull the ball across goal and Hartson got ahead of McGuire to fire home from close range for his 19th goal of the season.

Aberdeen striker Eugene Dadi was relishing his battle with his former Toulouse team-mate Balde and he was almost celebrating the equaliser after 21 minutes.

Winters' corner broke to him inside the box and his right-foot shot flew just wide of the post.

The home side continued to cause problems on the break and emergency defender Sutton resorted to desperate tactics to break them down three minutes later.

Derek Young went racing through the middle after Kjaer had found Winters with a quick throw, but he was sent crashing to the floor with a reckless tackle and was Sutton booked for his troubles.

Winters tried an ambitious long-range free-kick moments later which Douglas comfortably dealt with before the home side had calls for a penalty turned down.

Dadi went down heavily in the box under the challenge from Balde, but referee Hugh Dallas called it right.

Young was finally forced to leave the field in the 34th minute and manager Ebbe Skovdahl decided to replace him with blond-haired Moroccan international Hicham Zerouali.

Aberdeen almost got caught again at the back just three minutes before the break when Hartson reached Paul Lambert's pass over the top, but he flicked the ball just wide of the upright.

Hartson tried to catch Kjaer off guard just two minutes after the break with a powerful right-foot drive from inside the box, but the Danish keeper made a comfortable save.

Celtic looked as though they were going to kill the tie off and they went close against in the 51st minute.

Lubomir Moravcik surprisingly popped up to head Alan Thompson's free-kick across goal and Johan Mjallby somehow managed to knock the ball wide with Kjaer nowhere to be seen.

Aberdeen were struggling to live with the cup holders and the inevitable happened just two minutes later when Celtic extended their lead through Petrov.

Moravcik produced one of his pieces of magic to thread the Bulgarian clean through and he waited for Kjaer to commit himself before coolly chipping the ball over him.

Darren Young was fortunate to escape punishment in the 82nd minute when he left the foot in on Sutton and the game turned ugly when Hartson was sent off three minutes later.

The Welshman seemed to tangle with Jamie McAllister on the ground and appeared to lash out and Dallas spoke to his assistant before brandishing a straight red card.

O'Neill would also have been worried to see Sutton hobble off after the earlier challenge.

There was more excitement to come as Douglas saved Winters' penalty kick deep into injury time after Balde had brought down Zerouali.

But despite a night of high drama, holders Celtic booked their place in the semi-final - even without Larsson.