Martin O'Neill's Remarkable Return to Celtic and Champions League Glory

Twenty-two years is a lifetime in modern football. Managers come and go, clubs rise and fall, entire eras pass. Yet here is Martin O'Neill, 74 years old, standing on the touchline at Celtic Park with the Champions League almost back within his grasp.

By this time next week, he could be planning for the group stage again. The last time he did that, some of his current players had not even been born.

From Milan 2004 to LASK 2026

Cast the mind back to 2004. O'Neill’s Celtic held AC Milan to a goalless draw in the group stage, a night remembered for its intensity and defiance. That was his last dance with Europe’s elite.

Now, after a 3-0 dismantling of Austrian champions LASK in a play-off first leg, the door is open once more.

The irony is sharp. O'Neill spent time in hospital earlier this month after what the club described as a "small procedure", missing a convincing Scottish Premiership win at Kilmarnock while he recovered. For many managers, that kind of interruption at his age might hint at a gentle fade from the front line.

Instead, he has come back as the same unmistakable figurehead. The authority is still his. The aura, too.

He delegates the drills and the daily grind to assistants Shaun Maloney and Mark Fotheringham. The structure is modern, the workload shared. But the big calls? Those are O'Neill’s. The shape of the team, the tone of the dressing room, the sense of direction – they all run through him.

Former Celtic captain Scott Brown summed it up on Sportsound.

"Martin is a manager," he said, the emphasis clear. Times have changed, but O'Neill has kept pace. Brown talked about the calmness in his voice on radio or TV, the way he "oozes confidence". Players feel it. Supporters feel it. That composure has always been his power.

LASK blown away by Celtic’s cutting edge

LASK arrived in Glasgow’s east end as champions of Austria and in strong form. They carried a threat and showed it, carving out chances that on another night might have made this a far more anxious occasion.

Then Celtic’s quality cut through.

Benjamin Nygren struck first, rifling the opener into the top corner with a finish that lifted the noise levels and the belief. It was the kind of goal that changes the mood of a tie in an instant.

The pressure didn’t ease. Before half-time, summer signing Camilo Duran announced himself in style. A volley, clean and magnificent, flew past the goalkeeper to make it 2-0 and tilt the entire play-off in Celtic’s favour.

LASK still tried to play, still pushed forward, but they were now chasing shadows. When Nygren teed up Duran again, the Colombian forward smashed in his second of the night, a ruthless third that felt like a statement as much as a scoreline.

Three stunning goals. One foot, firmly, on the Champions League ladder.

The old master, still moulding teams

O'Neill will not indulge talk of jobs done or ties over. That has never been his style. He has seen too much, won too much, to lose his footing on the back of one big performance.

Yet this is another striking 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 solution, a familiar face to steady the club. He came out of retirement, took on not one but two interim spells, and somehow turned them into a league and cup double that few had genuinely expected.

The club asked him to stay. He agreed, permanently, earlier this summer. What started as a rescue mission has become a renaissance.

Former Scotland winger Pat Nevin captured the essence of O'Neill’s work on Match of the Day. Sometimes, Nevin said, it can be hard to see exactly what O'Neill does from the outside, but the effect is clear: he moulds a side. The best managers understand which players complement each other, which combinations unlock performances, how to draw the maximum from a squad.

"The job he did last season was out of this world," Nevin said. A double from a man supposedly just passing through.

Now comes the next test. If Celtic finish the job against LASK and return to the Champions League under the same manager who last took them there in 2004, O'Neill’s legend will deepen again.

He already belongs to the club’s history. The question now is how far this late, unexpected European run can carry him – and Celtic – into a new one.