O’Neill’s delight as Celtic ease to playoff place

This was little more fraught than it needed to be and looked as if it would be for Celtic.

- Ewan Murray

Still, Martin O’Neill can focus on the most important fact in that he has guided the Scottish champions into the Europa League’s playoff phase. Job done, once again, for the effervescent O’Neill.Celtic were fully deserving of their win in what became an entertaining clash. Their wobble in the second half proved to be only that. O’Neill, thought to be a managerial yesterday’s man not so long ago, continues to do his bit for 70-somethings everywhere. The Irishman will know Celtic must improve in order to make meaningful progress but such detail can wait. Even continuation in the Europa League had looked a long shot in the latter part of 2025.

This occasion marked more than two decades since O’Neill last managed Celtic in a home European game. Milan were the visitors for a scoreless draw back then, in a period when Celtic jousted with the best on the continent. The intervening years have not been particularly kind to Celtic in European context but in O’Neill, they have a manager who relishes foreign forays. Far from seeing progression to the knockout stage as a distraction from a domestic title race, O’Neill will revel in the challenge.