Martin O’Neill praised his Celtic players for showing the same resilience and character that defined his renowned Seville team…
Chris Sutton in Seville. Photo imago/Colorsport
However, the Hoops manager conceded he was so unhappy with the first-half display at Kilmarnock that he could have substituted as many as seven players at the break.
The Scottish champions recovered from a two-goal deficit to secure a vital three points, sealing it with their third stoppage-time goal in the space of a week.
Julian Araujo struck in the 97th minute to settle the contest against Killie, sparking wild celebrations among the travelling supporters at Rugby Park.
Shaun Maloney in action in Seville. 21.05.2003 Photo imago/ColorsportShaun Maloney (Celtic Glasgow) Ricardo Costa (FC Porto)
Speaking at his post match media conference and also to BBC Scotland, O’Neill said: “I had, twenty-odd years ago, I managed a really fine team, who had loads of spirit, loads of determination, always saw to the end.”
“There were many traits here about this side. They’ve shown fantastic character. Really from a poor first half, from our viewpoint, strong Kilmarnock, 2-0 down at half time, and they never give up. They’ve shown this and sometimes I wonder how they got themselves into this position in the first place, you know?”
Henrik Larsson scores in Seville, Celtic Glasgow. Photo Imago/Colorsport
“The usual accolades around about it, but they deserved them because even at half time, when I thought we were poor, there was just that feeling that we could turn it around if we could get a relatively early goal in the second half.”
O’Neill reserved strong praise for his players post-match, but admitted he delivered a stern dressing-room warning at half-time as his side trailed by two goals and struggled badly.
Henrik Larsson scores for Celtic in Seville. Photo Celtic FC
The Celtic boss said: “Could we have made seven changes at the time? I don’t know. Seb comes on, scores a great goal, gives us a bit of width. He’s going to take people on, and that side.”
“I had thought about maybe starting Alex Oxlade- Chamberlain, but we’re not sure in terms of fitness and things like this.
“He’s come on, he’s just a class player, an absolutely class player, and big Tomas comes on, what a turn for the final goal. It was great to see them making big impacts in the second half. I don’t know about the overall picture. I don’t know about that.
“If we had dropped all those points we would have been well out of it. Regardless of what happened at Ibrox, we’re still chasing. We’ve been chasing since I’ve been back, in both spells really.”
Conor Spence
Celtic in the Thirties by Matt Corr. Click on image to order
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