MARTIN O’NEILL will be looking for his fifth win from six outings as Celtic’s interim manager when his men face Feyenoord in the Europa League in Rotterdam tomorrow night.
The only banana skin in the Irishman’s sequence of games since his dramatic return following the abrupt resignation from Brendan Rodgers came in the side’s European tie in Denmark against FC Midtjylland earlier this month.
The Hoops were blown away in a devastating eight-minute first-half spell when the Danes netted three goals to effectively kill off the contest.
A penalty-kick from Reo Hatate put a better complexion on the final scoreline, but there could be no debate the visitors were second best to the opponents for most of a lopsided evening.
O’Neill wants to rectify the situation at the De Kuip where Rodgers’ team lost 2-0 in September 2023 and had two players – Gustaf Lagerbielke and Odin Holm – red-carded on another night to forget for the Parkhead men.
MAN ON A EURO MISSION…Martin O’Neill is looking for a win in Rotterdam.
Displaying defiance, the 73-year-old Irishman said: “We are going to try and win the game, of course. It’s Feyenoord we are playing, so it will be very difficult.
“Their confidence comes from themselves, not from what we might or might not do, but we’ve picked up plenty of confidence, as well.
“We had a really tough match against Midtjylland, but we’ve made progress since then, certainly domestically, and we’re looking forward to the game.
“I think we’re going in with confidence. We didn’t play brilliantly against St Mirren, but we won the game. Winning always gives you confidence, so we’ll try our might tomorrow, but it will be a difficult match.”
There are strong links between the clubs with Henrik Larsson becoming a Hoops legend while Wim Jansen was in the dug-out when the team halted Rangers’ bid for 10 successive titles.
And with Celtic’s 2-1 extra-time loss to the Dutch in the 1970 European Cup Final in Milan part of that shared history, the caretaker gaffer acknowledged the significance of a game in Rotterdam.
O’Neill, speaking to Celtic TV, added: “The 1970 Final was a massive disappointment.
“We had beaten Leeds United home and away in the semi-final and were expected to win, but Feyenoord won the game.
“It has history attached. I’ve just looked outside – some of the great names of world football are on the wall. There is something special about this place.”
O’Neill will be hoping it still has a special place in his heart following tomorrow’s 5.45pm kick-off.
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