Celtic's win over Beşiktaş reminds O'Neill of 'the old days'

Celtic supporters' passionate backing of their side in the UEFA Europa League win over Beşiktaş reminded Martin O'Neill of "the old days".

In the match Celtic won 3-2 at home against Beşiktaş, substitute Camilo Durán scored two goals, while the hosts' other goal came from 20-year-old Callum Osmand.

Beşiktaş took the lead through Junior Olaitan, who turned in the rebound after a missed penalty. Following goals from Osmand and Durán, Orkun Kökçü equalised in the 85th minute. But two minutes later Durán stepped up again to have the final say and seal Celtic's first win in this season's Europa League.

Durán became the first player to come off the bench and score two goals for Celtic in a major European competition since Johannes Edvaldsson found the net against Jeunesse d'Esch in the European Cup in September 1977.

The Scottish side also ended a three-match home losing run in the Europa League that had stretched back to the 4-2 win over Utrecht in January. Head coach O'Neill spoke warmly of the backing from the stands.

"The crowd gives us a huge amount of energy and tonight was really special. It reminded me of the old days. We put in a great performance with heart and soul. Just when I thought we were going to drop two points, we came back. There was a tremendous fighting spirit. Europe is always tough, and it was tough tonight. We are still in the hunt to get out of the group; at least we have given ourselves a chance. We made some changes and freshened up the team, because we have played so many games in a row that we have to give the players opportunities," said the Celtic head coach.

Celtic became the second team in this season's Europa League, after Celta Vigo, to concede the first goal of the second half and still leave the pitch with a win.

At 20 years and 362 days, Osmand became Celtic's youngest scorer in major European competition since Liel Abada (20 years and 32 days) netted against Ferencváros in November 2021.