Celtic find value in 'special' Duran - but does ambition reach further still?
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- Celtic beat LASK 3-0 in a Champions League play-off first leg in Glasgow, with Camilo Duran scoring twice and Benjamin Nygren adding a fourth goal in four games this season.
- Camilo Duran capped a 30-second team move — from Viljami Sinisalo through Colby Donovan, Auston Trusty and Nygren — by whipping the ball into the top corner, and still tracked back to defend at 3-0 in the 72nd minute.
- Martin O'Neill called Duran 'special' and praised the £4.5-6m Colombian signing for combining goals with relentless work rate, while teenage right-back Colby Donovan earned praise for 'big, big heart' deputising for Alistair Johnston.
- Celtic spent close to £30m this window but remain in net profit on transfer fees, funded by the sales of Arne Engels and Daizen Maeda, with O'Neill insisting the club still need another goalkeeper, left-back, defensive midfielder and a more creative central midfielder.
- Kasper Hogh was quiet at £11m but is tipped to score plenty in the weeks ahead, while Nygren's 21 goals and 10 assists last term underline his threat.
- A year ago Celtic crashed out of the Champions League to Kairat Almaty in a penalty shootout under Brendan Rodgers without scoring in 210 minutes — a contrast O'Neill highlighted when urging caution despite the 3-0 lead.
Why it matters: Celtic are one leg from a Champions League group stage worth roughly £40m, and O'Neill's squad needs that revenue to fund the five signings he publicly identified as still required to compete with European also-rans like Bodo/Glimt and Freiburg — a bar he set higher than domestic dominance alone.
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