Martin O’Neill delivered Celtic a parting gift as he led them to a big 3-1 Europa League win at Feyenoord in Rotterdam. With the 73-year-old set to step aside for Wilfried Nancy to take permanent charge, O’Neill’s aim was to bow out on a high and he achieved it.
Ayase Ueda gave Feyenoord an early lead, finishing from a through ball after a defensive lapse, and the opening goal sparked flares to be thrown onto the pitch from outside De Kuip. Celtic responded, though, and Hyun Jun Yang levelled after Luke McCowan’s lofted pass found Reo Hatate, who hooked the ball to the far post for Yang to score from close range.
Celtic had chances and some nervy moments before going ahead two minutes before half-time. Daizen Maeda charged down goalkeeper Timon Wellenreuther’s pass; the loose ball fell to Hatate, who struck first time from 22 yards to make it 2-1.
Celtic controlled the early stages of the second half but rode their luck as Feyenoord pressed, Diarra hitting the bar with a header. The match was sealed in the 82nd minute when Maeda again disrupted Wellenreuther while collecting Colby Donovan’s low cross; the ball broke kindly for Benjamin Nygren, who came off the bench to fire in off the underside of the bar for 3-1.
It was Celtic’s first win in the Netherlands since 2001, a fixture O’Neill was also in charge of then, and moved them into a Europa League play-off place. Feyenoord have now won just one of their five games in the competition.
Celtic started with McCowan and Yang either side of Maeda. McCowan had an extraordinary early miss, hitting the bar from close range after an Arne Engels corner. The visitors conceded in the 11th minute when Sem Steijn laid the ball off to Ueda, who finished. Leo Sauer later shot over from six yards for the hosts, and a possible handball on the rebound of another Ueda effort was waved away by officials.
In the second half, Engels had a free-kick well saved by Kasper Schmeichel as the hosts applied pressure, but Celtic defended resolutely until Nygren’s late strike. The travelling Celtic support, louder with a stand at De Kuip closed as UEFA punishment for fireworks, were in fine voice as their side saw out the win.
On the victory, interim Celtic manager Martin O’Neill said: “It was terrific. It is really big, I must admit. It’s really great. It’s really, really, really good. Winning away from home is terrific. That’s not easy in Europe, it’s certainly not easy here. The very obvious thing is that it gives them confidence and a bit of belief that they can actually come and compete. That was the thing tonight. Even if the result had gone against us, I thought we were competing.”
O’Neill also spoke about his advice for incoming boss Wilfried Nancy: “He has got some players here who are big winners and that’s great. The most important thing is that he steps in and I’m sure he will lean on some of those lads. Then it’s about trying to improve the other players. When you start to improve you can go into games with more confidence. Confidence was very, very low obviously after a couple of defeats. The restoration of confidence is big and it’s about keeping it going.”
What’s next for Celtic includes domestic fixtures and further Europa League matches as they look to build on the confidence-restoring win in Rotterdam.