Martin O'Neill's Celtic on Brink of Champions League Return
Martin O'Neill stood on the touchline on Tuesday night, back where he has always looked most at home, and nudged Celtic to the brink of the Champions League once again.
If they finish the job in Austria next week, a 22-year wait ends. The last time O'Neill managed in this competition, Celtic were grinding out a goalless draw with AC Milan at Celtic Park in 2004. Some of the players who ripped through LASK in this play-off first leg were not even born.
Yet there he was at 74, orchestrating it all.
A manager who never really left
Earlier this month, O'Neill was in hospital for what the club described as a "small procedure". He missed a comfortable Scottish Premiership win at Kilmarnock while he recovered, a reminder of his age and the miles on the clock.
None of that showed against the Austrian champions.
O'Neill has become the calm centre of Celtic’s storm. He sets the direction, makes the big calls, and lets his lieutenants Shaun Maloney and Mark Fotheringham handle the grind of day-to-day training. The structure is modern; the authority is old-school.
"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 composure has bled into this Celtic team. They did not panic when LASK arrived in Glasgow’s east end in form and carrying a threat. They simply trusted their manager and their talent.
Three moments of brilliance
LASK had their chances. They pressed high, broke with intent and, for spells, quietened the crowd. But when Celtic struck, they did it with the kind of ruthless quality that decides European ties.
Benjamin Nygren lit the place up first, cutting inside and ripping a finish into the top corner. One swing, one roar, one statement.
The pressure built. The belief grew.
Then came the moment that really shifted the night. Summer signing Camilo Duran, still bedding into life at Celtic, watched a high ball drop and met it with a volley of real authority. A magnificent second, lashed home before half-time, that felt like a turning point in more ways than one.
LASK were still alive, still probing, but the contest had changed. Celtic smelled blood.
The third goal underlined it. Nygren turned provider, slipping the ball to Duran, and the Colombian smashed in his second of the night. It was brutal, clinical, the sort of finish that makes a two-legged tie feel almost lopsided.
The visitors had come as champions of Austria. They left having been blown away by three stunning goals.
A legend writing another chapter
O'Neill barely flinched at full-time. No wild celebrations, no grandstanding. He knows what a second leg can do to a first-leg lead. He stressed the job is not done, because that is who he is.
But this is still a remarkable chapter in a career that looked complete not long ago.
When Brendan Rodgers resigned last October, Celtic turned to O'Neill as a short-term fix, a familiar face to steady the club. He came out of retirement, took charge across two interim spells and somehow turned it into an unlikely league and cup double.
That was supposed to be the epilogue. Instead, it became the prologue to another act.
Earlier this summer, he agreed to stay on permanently. The gamble has already paid off domestically; now Europe is starting to stir.
"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 legend part is secure. The banners, the memories, the double after coming out of retirement – that will never fade.
What comes next, though, could change the scale of it. One more solid night in Austria, and Martin O'Neill walks back through the Champions League door he last closed in 2004, this time with a new generation at his back.
