Martin O'Neill's Return: Celtic's Path to Champions League

Martin O'Neill stood on the touchline again, and Celtic Park felt the years fall away.

Twenty-two seasons have passed since he last prowled a Champions League technical area. By this time next week, he could be plotting his way back into that competition, the same tournament he left after a goalless group-stage draw with AC Milan in 2004. Some of the players who delivered Tuesday night’s 3-0 play-off win over LASK were not even born then.

The game has changed. O'Neill, now 74, has changed with it – just not in the way that dulls his edge.

Earlier this month he was in hospital for what the club described as a "small procedure", forced to sit out a comfortable Scottish Premiership victory at Kilmarnock while he recovered. It felt like a reminder of his age, of time passing.

His team’s performance against the Austrian champions was a reminder of something else entirely: his authority remains untouched.

O'Neill, still the centre of it all

Celtic’s structure is modern. Shaun Maloney and Mark Fotheringham run the day-to-day training, tune the details, handle the drills. O’Neill presides above it all, making the big calls, setting the tone, shaping the dressing room in that familiar, uncompromising way.

"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 calmness has underpinned Celtic’s resurgence since Brendan Rodgers walked away last October. O’Neill came out of retirement, first on an interim basis, then again, and somehow turned a fractured season into a league and cup double that nobody saw coming. This summer, he agreed to stay on permanently.

Now he stands one strong performance away from taking Celtic back into the Champions League proper.

LASK arrive in form – and are blown away

LASK did not turn up in Glasgow to make up the numbers. Austrian champions, in good form, well organised and dangerous on the break, they carved out chances in the east end of the city. For spells, they looked like a side capable of punishing any slackness.

Celtic simply didn’t give them enough.

Benjamin Nygren lit the fuse. Picking his spot, he whipped a ruthless finish into the top corner to rip open the tie and the noise inside the stadium. It was a strike that carried the conviction of a player who trusts the system around him.

The pressure built. The crowd sensed more. The second goal, when it came, was a thing of pure, crafted violence.

Camilo Duran, a summer signing still bedding into life in Glasgow, met a cross with a magnificent volley before half-time, a clean, explosive hit that left LASK’s defence staring at each other. Two chances taken, two goals, and a play-off that suddenly tilted heavily green and white.

LASK tried to respond after the break, pushing higher, searching for a lifeline. Instead, they were finished off.

Nygren turned provider, slipping the ball into Duran’s path. The Colombian didn’t hesitate. He smashed in his second of the night, a ruthless third for Celtic, and the tie shifted from tense contest to statement victory.

Three stunning goals. One foot, and then some, on the Champions League ladder.

A manager who still moulds teams

O’Neill will not indulge in wild talk. He made it clear afterwards that the job is not done, that Europe punishes complacency. Yet this result felt like another chapter in a late-career story that keeps refusing to end.

"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."

He has taken a squad in flux and found combinations that work: Nygren thriving, Duran striking early in his Celtic career, the balance between the coaching staff clear. The old-school manager at the top, the modern assistants beneath him, the players buying into the blend.

It is not nostalgia driving this run. It is structure, clarity and a manager who still knows how to bend a group to his will.

The Champions League has moved on since O’Neill last walked its touchlines. The money is bigger, the stakes higher, the tactical fashions different. The question now is simple: will Europe have to make room once more for a 74-year-old who refuses to step quietly into the past?