Celtic's Challenge After Ibrox Defeat: O’Neill's Call to Action

Martin O’Neill wants his Celtic players to carry the sting of Ibrox with them this week – and use it.

Beaten 3-0 by Rangers on Sunday, bruised in the scoreline and in reputation, Celtic have no time to lick their wounds. A European tie arrives on Thursday. Another Glasgow derby at Celtic Park looms on Sunday. This is no quiet reset. It’s a test of character in real time.

O’Neill made it clear: if defeat doesn’t hurt, something is badly wrong.

“We’ve had the setback on Sunday, something that you have to, first of all, look at it. Then you have to hurt a bit. You have to hurt a lot, I think,” he told Celtic Player, laying down a challenge as much as an observation.

“That’s the way that I spent my career. I probably overindulged in the hurting aspect of the game, but the games have to hurt you both as a player and as a manager.

“After that, then you go and rise above it again. That defines you as much as anything else.”

The message is simple: dwell on it, feel it, then respond. Celtic’s response will be judged over the next few days, not in a distant debrief.

A pivotal week – then time to think

The schedule gives Celtic no breathing space, but the international break sits just beyond this demanding double-header. For O’Neill, that gap is not just a pause; it is a mirror.

“A big game coming up on Thursday, a big, big game on Sunday, then an international break, and it gives you a chance for the non-international players to take stock of what’s happened and say, well, listen, what can I do?

“What can I do better? What can I do now to help the team? What can I do to help myself? Obviously, if you can do those things, then you’re going to help the club.”

That’s the tone around Lennoxtown now: accountability. No grand slogans, just hard questions for each player to answer privately, then prove publicly.

O’Neill’s tribute to Danny McGrain

Before he delved into tactics and mentality, O’Neill paused to acknowledge a figure who helped shape Celtic’s identity long before this current group pulled on the shirt.

Danny McGrain, the club legend and former defender, has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. O’Neill worked with him during his first spell as Celtic manager and his respect for McGrain’s talent and personality remains obvious.

“Danny was here at Celtic working with the reserves when I came here in my first spell, but just a phenomenal footballer and a really great character,” he said.

The Celtic boss added: “He was just a brilliant player, a great defender, and certainly going forward, he could cause havoc.”

On a week dominated by talk of pressure and reaction, McGrain’s name pulls everything back to perspective and legacy. The standards he set still hang over the club.

Eyes on Europe, then Rangers again

Now, though, attention snaps back to Thursday night. A European assignment, and a chance to clear some of the Ibrox fog.

“It’d be nice to get off to a decent start. It won’t be easy. Nothing is, I don’t think. Nor should it be, really,” O’Neill said, under no illusions about the level required.

“At the end of the day, it’s a European game. Hopefully, we can be up for the game and be ready for the game and then after that, you can concentrate then on Sunday.”

First, Europe. Then Rangers. Two games that can either deepen the wound or turn that hurt into something far more dangerous for Celtic’s opponents.