Celtic's Champions League Challenge: O’Neill's Plans Amidst Engels' Absence
Martin O’Neill has backed Engels’ decision to sit out Celtic’s Champions League play-off, even as he scrambles to replace the midfielder before the transfer window closes.
O’Neill revealed Engels refused to play in the crucial ties, fearing an injury could derail his next move. The Celtic manager, though, refused to criticise him.
“He didn’t want to play in the matches in case he got injured,” O’Neill said, calling the stance understandable given the stakes for the player’s future.
Replacement search goes to the wire
Engels’ absence leaves a hole in midfield on the eve of a defining European tie, and Celtic are still chasing a solution.
“We’re still in the process of trying to do that,” O’Neill admitted. “We haven’t been able to get someone in, in time, to do that. But there are a number of players that we’re looking at and hopefully we will by the end of the transfer window.”
Time is tight. The games will not wait. O’Neill knows that, but he is pushing recruitment right up to the deadline.
For him, though, the pull of the Champions League is not about balance sheets.
The prestige of the competition, he insists, outweighs the money it brings in. The financial boost matters for another reason: it arms Celtic in the market, giving them the means to attract more players before the group stage and strengthen properly for the campaign ahead.
Hatate interest and a fight to rediscover form
Reo Hatate’s future hangs in the background of all this. There has been interest. Nothing concrete yet.
O’Neill confirmed as much: “I don’t think there’s been anything definitive. That may well happen in the next week.”
If a bid lands and the player wants to go, Celtic will have a decision to make. If not, O’Neill is more than happy to build around him again.
He would welcome a version of Hatate closer to the one who once ran midfields in Scotland.
O’Neill said he would have no issue if Hatate chose to stay and scrap for his place, to recapture the level that made him “one of best midfielders in Scotland” two seasons ago. For a squad heading into Europe’s elite competition, that sort of revival could change the picture entirely.
LASK threat and a brutal test
Standing between Celtic and the Champions League group stage are Austrian champions LASK, and O’Neill is under no illusions.
He called them “a very fine side” and expects a “very, very difficult” tie. Celtic have studied them closely.
“We’ve watched them now on numerous occasions. We’ve had people watching them live,” he said. “They are very fast up front as well, lots of good players on the side. And they’re very, very strong. Physically strong as well.”
The message is clear: this is no soft route into the groups. Celtic will need to impose themselves at home and then withstand a physical, high-tempo battle in Austria.
A first-leg advantage at Celtic Park would help, but O’Neill refused to frame it as a do-or-die requirement.
He described a lead to take to Austria as “lovely” yet stressed it would not be “the end of the world” if they failed to secure it. The tie, in his mind, will be defined over 180 minutes, not just the opening night.
O’Neill’s European return
At 74, O’Neill is back in the Champions League spotlight after more than two decades away. The sense of occasion is not lost on him.
“I didn’t think last September or October I’d be sitting here thinking about a Champions League game,” he admitted. “If I was, I’d certainly be watching it on TV.”
Now he is in the dugout again, staring at a competition that still stirs something in him.
“There are challenges in this Champions League. You could get nothing else but excited about it, which is fantastic, especially at my age.”
That excitement is tempered by realism. Preparation is done. The tactical work is in place. From here, it belongs to the players.
Celtic, he insists, are “ready for the challenge”.
“It’s up to the players now as much as anything else,” he said. “I think the quality that we brought in will bear fruit during the course of the season.”
The coming weeks will show whether that belief holds under the harsh light of Europe.
Old rivalry on the horizon
Beyond Europe, another fixture looms: Rangers away in the League Cup quarter-finals. It’s a tie that would normally dominate headlines on its own. Not this week.
“I’m looking forward to it when it comes to it,” O’Neill said, refusing to let the derby distract from LASK. “Naturally, the concentration is totally in these two games. But it is what it is. We’re drawn away from home again.”
For now, everything points towards the play-off. Engels has stepped aside, Hatate’s future hangs in the balance, and LASK wait with pace and power.
Celtic have their route. The question is whether this squad, under a veteran manager back on Europe’s biggest stage, can walk it all the way to the Champions League proper.
