Celtic 3–0 LASK: Duran's Double Puts Team Close to Champions League
Celtic have a hand on the Champions League league phase after dismantling LASK 3–0 in Glasgow – but Martin O’Neill walked off the pitch talking more about danger than destiny.
On a night when Celtic Park crackled with early tension, the tie could hardly have started in more alarming fashion for the home side. LASK thought they had struck inside the opening minute, wheeling away in celebration before the effort was ruled out for offside. The Austrians buzzed around Celtic’s back line, quick, direct, and aggressive.
“It was a really tough evening for us,” O’Neill told TNT Sports. “We won 3-0, and they’re a really good side.”
For the first 10 to 15 minutes, Celtic chased shadows. LASK’s pace up front, which O’Neill had warned his players about, looked every bit as sharp as advertised. The visitors snapped into challenges, pressed high, and forced Celtic to retreat.
Then the game flipped.
Benjamin Nygren, quiet to that point, took a touch in space outside the box and unleashed a superb strike that ripped into the net. One moment of class, and Celtic suddenly had control of the scoreboard, if not yet the tie.
The goal settled Celtic. Passes started to stick. The crowd, edgy after that early scare, found its voice. LASK still carried a threat, but the home side now played with a measure of authority that had been missing in the opening exchanges.
And then Camilo Duran took over.
Shortly before half-time, a high ball dropped into the box and Duran met it with a stunning volley, the kind of finish that stops a stadium for a split second before the roar crashes down. It was pure technique, pure confidence, and it gave Celtic a two-goal cushion that felt enormous in the context of a European qualifier.
Chris Sutton, watching on duty, was among those left purring over Duran’s strike. He has seen plenty of big European nights in this arena; this was a finish to sit comfortably among them.
LASK came out after the break still swinging, still trying to force their way back into the contest. They pushed bodies forward, refused to shrink, and kept testing Celtic’s concentration. O’Neill’s warning about their quality did not sound like hollow politeness.
But the more they chased, the more space opened up.
Duran struck again in the second half, his second of the night and Celtic’s third, to complete a near-perfect scoreline. It was the decisive punch, the goal that turned a strong win into a commanding first-leg advantage and capped an excellent European performance from O’Neill’s side.
At 3–0, the mood in the stands shifted from relief to belief. This is what Celtic have been chasing: nights that matter, nights that lead to the Champions League proper. Ninety more minutes in Austria now stand between them and the league phase.
O’Neill, though, refused to indulge any talk of the job being done.
“I said to the players beforehand that they’ve got plenty of pace up front as well, and they’re a very, very fine, talented team,” he said. “We still have our work cut out, but we’ve given ourselves a chance, let me put it that way.
“They scored a goal just in the first minute chalked off for offside or whatever it was, and they started so brightly it was untrue, and it took us 10, 15 minutes to get in our stride.”
That early warning remains the note of caution hanging over the second leg. LASK showed enough at Celtic Park to suggest they can ask serious questions on home soil. Celtic know they will walk into a hostile atmosphere and a side with nothing to lose.
For now, though, the numbers are clear. Three goals to the good. A clean sheet. A forward in Duran who looks in ruthless mood. A tie that has swung firmly towards Glasgow.
The next step is simple and brutal: survive in Austria, and Celtic’s season explodes onto the Champions League stage. Fail, and this commanding night in Glasgow becomes just another European “what if?”.
