Martin O'Neill's Return: Celtic Eyes Champions League Glory
Twenty-two years is a lifetime in modern football. Managers come and go, clubs rise and fall, entire eras pass. Martin O'Neill, though, is back on the brink of the Champions League, standing in almost the exact spot where he left it.
By this time next week, the 74-year-old could be preparing for another crack at a competition he last graced in 2004, when his Celtic side held AC Milan to a goalless draw at Celtic Park. Some of the players who delivered Tuesday night’s play-off win over LASK were not even born then. They are living the dream; he is revisiting it.
O'Neill, still the heartbeat
Earlier this month, O'Neill was in hospital for what the club described as a “small procedure”. He missed a commanding Scottish Premiership win at Kilmarnock while he recovered. For many, that might have signalled a gentle fade from the front line.
Instead, he walked back into Lennoxtown and into the technical area as if nothing had changed.
He is still the figurehead. Still the decision-maker. Still the man everyone looks at when the stakes rise.
The daily grind belongs to his assistants, Shaun Maloney and Mark Fotheringham, who run the training sessions and fine-tune the details. The big calls, the shape of the season, the mood of the club – that’s O'Neill’s domain.
“Martin is a manager,” former Celtic midfielder Scott Brown said on Sportsound. “The times have changed but it is amazing that he has moved with them.
“See the calmness when he talks on radio or TV – he just oozes confidence. You can imagine what he does to fans, to us, to players, he oozes that confidence and that calmness as well.”
That aura still hangs over Celtic Park. It was there again as LASK arrived, Austrian champions in form and full of belief, only to be ripped apart by three ruthless strikes.
LASK threaten, Celtic explode
LASK did not come to Glasgow’s east end to make up the numbers. They carried a threat, found pockets of space, and carved out chances. For spells, they pushed Celtic back and asked questions.
Then the home side answered with a ferocity that shattered the tie’s balance.
Benjamin Nygren lit the place up first, thundering a finish into the top corner that left the LASK goalkeeper motionless. It was a strike that carried both technique and intent, the kind that turns a tense play-off into a statement night.
The pressure didn’t ease. Celtic swarmed, the tempo rose, and the second goal was even better. Summer signing Camilo Duran met a cross with a stunning volley, a magnificent finish that ripped into the net before LASK could react. A new face, a new hero, in a very old European theatre.
After the break, the Colombian forward went again. Nygren slipped him in and Duran smashed home his second of the evening, a ruthless conclusion to another sweeping move. Three goals, each with its own flourish, but together they felt like a declaration: Celtic want back in among Europe’s elite.
A veteran who still moulds teams
O'Neill did not leap about on the touchline. He rarely does. He knows a first leg, no matter how impressive, does not end a tie. He stressed as much afterwards, wary of any sense that the job is done.
Yet this is another chapter in a career that refuses to wind down quietly.
When Brendan Rodgers resigned last October, Celtic turned to O'Neill as a stop-gap. He came out of retirement, took charge across two interim spells and somehow steered the club to a league and cup double that few had forecast when he walked through the door.
That would have been a fitting epilogue. Instead, he signed on permanently in the summer.
“Sometimes it’s hard to see what Martin does for the team, but he seems to be able to mould a side,” former Scotland winger Pat Nevin said on Match of the Day.
“The great managers do that. It’s understanding what players work with other types of players and getting the best out of them.
The job he did last season was out of this world. Whatever happens, he will always be a legend of the club, but if they have a good run in Europe, that’s fantastic.”
The mould is clear again now: a blend of youthful energy, smart recruitment and an old master guiding it all. Celtic stand one tie away from the Champions League group stage, with a 74-year-old at the helm who has seen this all before.
The question is no longer whether O'Neill belongs back on this stage. It’s how far he and this team can go once they get there.
