Martin O’Neill hailed Camilo Duran’s “world-class performance” after the summer signing scored two stunning goals in Celtic’s 3-0 win over LASK in the first leg of their Champions League play-off.
The 24-year-old Colombian forward slammed a volley into the top corner to double Celtic’s lead on the night then added what could be a vital third by firing another unstoppable shot following a wonderful team move.
Advertisement
Duran, who scored five Champions League goals for Qarabag last season, was signed for around £5.5m in July and stepped up for O’Neill’s side after Celtic sold Arne Engels to West Ham for a Championship record fee of £22m over the weekend.
Benjamin Nygren had also produced a superb volley to open the scoring but Celtic have a new hero in Duran as the Glasgow side took a commanding three-goal lead into Tuesday’s second leg against the Austrian champions in Linz.
“He’s a brilliant player,” O’Neill told TNT Sports. “We spotted him way back some time ago and tried to get him earlier than we did, but so pleased to see him here. He’s just magnificent.
Advertisement
“I said to him, I’m not saying he’s a world-class player, but that was a world-class performance, in every sense. Not only the goals he scored and taking people on, but getting back.”
Despite the emphatic scoreline, visitors LASK created plenty of chances and twice had the ball in the net in the first half only to be denied by tight offside calls, so could still be a threat in Austria next week.
Celtic had crashed out to Kairat Almaty in the Champions League play-offs last year and have lost their last five attempts in qualifying, going out to AEK Athens, Cluj, Ferencvaros and Midtjylland in recent years.
The arrival of Duran, as well as record signing Kasper Hogh, has changed the mood around Celtic this summer but O’Neill, who led the Hoops to a league and cup double last season, maintained that their job was not over.
“I thought it was a really tough evening for us, really tough evening,” he said. “We’ve won 3-0 and they are a really good side. They’re a very fine, talented team. So we’ve got our work cut out still, but we’ve given ourselves a chance, let me put it that way.
Advertisement
“They scored a goal in the first minute, chalked off for offside. They started so brightly it was untrue and it took us 10-15 minutes to get into our stride. Even then it was back and forward, back and forward. At the end of it all, if we’ve scored three goals, that helps.
“It will probably end up being the same sort of game next week. For us, I think we’re capable of scoring and that will be key. I’m not playing it down: it was a great result for us tonight, but there is a long way to go.
“Last season, for most of the season, you were wondering where a goal might come from. Here, we are able to conjure goals, we can do that. Keeping a clean sheet was very important for us as well.”
Read the full article here