MON’s European Return

Match day in the Europa League is upon us once again. The tournament may not have the Elite of European Football taking part but the return of Martin O’Neill to Celtic has certainly ignited a spark within the Celtic support.

Results could not have gone better for him, Shaun Maloney and his backroom team. They go into the game in Denmark against FC Midtjylland after back to back wins at home to Falkirk in the SPFL and a League Cup semi-final against city rivals the rangers.

When we think of Martin O’Neill in the UEFA Cup your mind automatically takes you back to that great run to Seville in the 2002/03 season which he mentioned in yesterdays press conference with Kasper Schmeichel sitting alongside him back in his homeland.

The following season Celtic reached the quarter finals of the tournament before going out to Villarreal. In the previous round Celtic knocked Barcelona out of the competition against all the odds. What a night we had in the Catalonian city celebrating.

That night Henrik Larsson and Chris Sutton led the forward line for Celtic. While young players David Marshall and John Kennedy covered themselves in the glory at the other end of the pitch against a star studded Barca line up.

Tonight Martin O’Neill could rely on youth up front to get the goals. Johnny Kenny and Callum Osmand both impressed on Sunday and both got on the score sheet and have travelled full of confidence. Daizen Maeda is also an option up front if the manager opts for experience over youth.

In the build up to the game Martin O’Neill has spoken about watching tonight’s opponents v Nottingham Forest in his TV pundits role. They sit top of the Europa table with 3 wins out of 3 wins while Celtic have had a mixed bag of results under Brendan Rodgers 1 away draw and a win and a lose at Celtic Park and sit in 21^st place in the table.

Confidence is higher now since the change of guard in the dugout. Hopefully Celtic can continue that winning run under the new management team ahead of Kilmarnock at home in the SPFL on Sunday and the international break.

Its an early kick off this season with a 5:45pm kick off and the game will be shown on TNT Sports 2 with coverage starting at 5pm

Andrew Milne is Editor of More than 90 Minutes & Host of the Celtic Soul Podcast