Copyright scotsman
Celtic interim manager Martin O’Neill admitted his team suffered a “tough” evening in going down 3-1 to Midtjylland in the Europa League - and revealed he has two new injury issues to contend with. The Scottish champions were outclassed at the MCH Arena in Herning, with the hosts scoring three goals in a devastating spell between 34 and 41 minutes through Martin Erlic, Mikel Gorgoza and Franculino. Celtic did score a consolation via the penalty spot through Reo Hatate on 80 minutes, but by then the damage was done. Celtic’s night went from bad to worse when substitute Callum Osmand went down in tears clutching his hamstring, while midfielder Arne Engels also came off with a muscle issue. “It was a tough old evening,” said O’Neill. “We expected that. We conceded two goals within a minute and a third within seven naturally that turns the game. “The team showed showed a lot of resilience in the second half as the team could have gone under. But they showed a bit of a character, which was lovely to see. The emotion of Sunday [against Rangers] definitely played a part, we looked a bit leggy.” O’Neill revealed that Osmand, who scored his first goal for Celtic in Sunday’s Premier Sports Cup win over Rangers, will be sidelined for a number of weeks after leaving the field on a stretcher. The prognosis is less clear on Engels, who was replaced by Paulo Bernardo. "He [Osmand] was distraught,” continued O’Neill. "He's pulled a hamstring. He's very young, it's never happened to him before. "If everything works out well, he'll recover from that and then start again. And that's what I said to him... 'This is just a setback for you, it's not terminal, and you can fight back'.” "He's [Engels] feeling his hamstring as well. The games are coming thick and fast because we're playing European football." Celtic are now on four points after four matches in the competition and O’Neill believes that Celtic will require two more wins against either Feyenoord, Roma, Bologna or Utrecht to progress to the knock-out stages. “I probably always thought this here that 10 points would probably get you (through), so we're not out of it,” added O’Neill. "That's a big lesson for us to know, to know what it takes to be a really decent European team. Midtjylland have shown that and they have good experience in the side, they've got really good players and they have that thing that is necessary, a bit of physicality."
