Martin O’Neill Explains Hassan's Omission from Celtic's Starting XI

Martin O’Neill has revealed a sleepless night lay behind his decision to leave Haissem Hassan out of Celtic’s starting XI in the 3-0 defeat to Rangers at Ibrox.

The winger’s omission raised eyebrows before the Premier Sports Cup quarter-final. Hassan had been one of Celtic’s brightest sparks in midweek, tormenting St Johnstone and supplying the assist for Mika Baur’s winner in a narrow 1-0 victory. He even had a goal of his own controversially chalked off. On form, he looked a certainty to start.

Instead, Sebastian Tounekti got the nod on derby day, prompting immediate questions over whether O’Neill had opted for caution in the heat of Ibrox.

After the game, the Celtic manager laid out the simple – and unexpected – reason.

“Young Hassan had an overnight problem, and he didn’t get much sleep in all honesty, so it was just a matter of not starting him because of that. That’s the reason, really,” O’Neill said, speaking via the Scottish Sun.

The explanation cut through the speculation. No hidden injury. No disciplinary issue. Just a player who, in his manager’s eyes, wasn’t in the right physical state to handle one of the most demanding fixtures on the calendar.

O’Neill had been pressed on the decision even before kick-off, when he hinted that the ferocity of the occasion had also shaped his thinking.

“Yeah, I think that he will be on the field of play without doubt,” he said when asked about Hassan’s chances of featuring.

“I think sometimes maybe just have a little look at the fixture itself, you know, the intensity of all of those particular things.”

The message was clear. In a derby of this scale, with the tie balanced on the knife-edge of emotion and noise, O’Neill wanted players fully primed, physically and mentally, from the first whistle.

Hassan, one of Celtic’s more exciting recent performers, instead watched the early stages from the sidelines as his team slid out of the competition. His recent form suggests he will not be there for long. The real question now is how quickly he can turn a restless night into a forceful response in the next chapter of Celtic’s season.