O'Neill Backs Engels' Decision Amid Celtic's Champions League Challenge

Martin O’Neill has backed midfielder Engels’ decision to step away from Celtic’s Champions League play-off push, even as he scrambles to replace him before the transfer window closes.

The Celtic manager revealed Engels opted not to feature in the tie, fearing an ill-timed injury could derail his future.

“He didn’t want to play in the matches in case he got injured,” O’Neill explained, accepting the call. For a player on the brink of a move, he knows that logic all too well.

Celtic, though, are left short.

“We’re still in the process of trying to do that,” he said of finding a replacement. “We haven’t been able to get someone in, in time, to do that. But there are a number of players that we’re looking at and hopefully we will by the end of the transfer window.”

The clock is ticking, but O’Neill’s eyes are fixed on something bigger than balance sheets.

Prestige over prize money

For the 74-year-old, the lure of the Champions League remains what it always was: stage, not pay day.

The money matters, of course. O’Neill knows the financial hit of reaching the group phase would change what Celtic can do in the market, especially before the league stage truly bites.

But he is clear. The real draw is the competition itself, the anthem, the spotlight, the sense of belonging at the top table.

The squad, though, is still under scrutiny. Reo Hatate’s future hangs in the air.

O’Neill confirmed interest in the Japanese midfielder. “But I don’t think there’s been anything definitive,” he said. “That may well happen in the next week.”

If Hatate stays, there will be no awkwardness, no stand-off.

O’Neill would welcome a fightback. He would happily see the 26-year-old stay and scrap to rediscover the form that, in his words, made him “one of best midfielders in Scotland” two seasons ago.

That version of Hatate, the one who dictated games and drove Celtic forward, is exactly what this campaign demands.

Respect for LASK, belief in Celtic

Before any transfer twists, there is a serious tie to navigate.

Austrian champions LASK, O’Neill insists, are no soft draw. He calls them “a very fine side” and expects a “very, very difficult” contest.

“We’ve watched them now on numerous occasions. We’ve had people watching them live,” he said. “They are very fast up front as well, lots of good players on the side. And they’re very, very strong. Physically strong as well.”

Celtic know what’s coming: pace, power, and a team used to winning.

A first-leg advantage at home would be “lovely”, O’Neill admitted, but he refused to frame it as a do-or-die scenario. If Celtic don’t travel to Austria with a lead, he will not treat it as a catastrophe. The tie, he knows, runs over 180 minutes, not 90.

What he does demand is readiness.

Celtic, he insists, are “ready for the challenge”.

“It’s up to the players now as much as anything else,” he said. “I think the quality that we brought in will bear fruit during the course of the season.”

That’s the bet: that the summer’s work, even with gaps still to fill, will harden into something capable of living at Champions League level.

O’Neill’s Champions League return

For O’Neill, this is personal as well as professional.

His last taste of Champions League football as a manager came more than 20 years ago. He did not expect to be back here.

“I didn’t think last September or October I’d be sitting here thinking about a Champions League game,” he admitted. “If I was, I’d certainly be watching it on TV.”

Now he is not just watching. He is in it again, feeling the old surge.

“There are challenges in this Champions League,” he said. “You could get nothing else but excited about it, which is fantastic, especially at my age.”

The veteran manager sounds energised, not daunted, by the scale of the task.

Old rivalry waits in the wings

Beyond Europe, the domestic fires are already being stoked.

Celtic have been drawn away to Rangers in the League Cup quarter-finals, another trip to Ibrox in a season that is already bristling with storylines.

“I’m looking forward to it when it comes to it,” O’Neill said. “Naturally, the concentration is totally in these two games. But it is what it is. We’re drawn away from home again.”

LASK now. Rangers later. A thin squad, a restless market, and a manager back under the Champions League lights.

For Celtic, the next few weeks will say plenty about where this team is really heading.