Celtic manager Martin O'Neill has revealed that Camilo Duran is set to make a late dash to Lisbon after becoming a father for the second time. The striker was absent from training on Wednesday before the Hoops travelled to Portugal, sparking fears of an injury.
O'Neill has confirmed that his top scorer will fly out to join the squad after being given permission to stay at home with partner Valentina Jaramillo for the birth of their second child.
Duran to join squad in Lisbon
Speaking about Duran's imminent arrival, O'Neill said: “He should come out and join us. It’ll be great to have him with us. His partner has had the baby so it’s brilliant.”
“There is a possibility of trying to get something organised to fly him out to Lisbon this evening. But failing that he’ll travel tomorrow. He wanted to play. I don’t think he was at the birth of his first child so he wanted to be at the birth this time.”
O'Neill dismisses Carter-Vickers conspiracy
Meanwhile, O'Neill has rubbished conspiracy theories suggesting that Cameron Carter-Vickers has been dropped. The USA defender had questioned the team's lack of clarity and “random” patterns of play following the loss to Rangers at Parkhead.
O'Neill insists that Carter-Vickers' absence is due to injury, with a hamstring problem expected to rule him out of this weekend's clash with Hearts. He said: “I would have concerns about Sunday. I think they are talking about another 10 days, in which we’ll probably have 15 games. He’s injured. It’s very difficult to play a player when he’s injured.”
Celtic face tough Europa League test
Celtic face a challenging task to secure their first points of the Europa League campaign. After a 3-1 defeat to Ferencvaros in their opening match, leaving Lisbon empty-handed would make qualification for the knockout stages difficult.
O'Neill is determined to lead the Hoops into the latter stages, as he did last season. He said: “First of all, we’re going to try and qualify for the knockout stages for a start. We did that last year and that’s what we’re trying to do.”
“We’ve got another seven games in which to try and get enough points to qualify. I don’t know what would do it. Ten or eleven or something against you would qualify. So that would be the ambition for us to do it. We can still do it. We lost our opening game. You don’t want to lose the game.”
“We could easily have beaten Ferencvaros early on in proceedings. We’ve got two or three great chances that we should have scored. We didn’t do. Of course, that’s a setback. This is a difficult game for us. They’ll be one of the favourites to win the competition. But we have games in which to get the points.”
O'Neill confident in Celtic's European future
Celtic's European record over the last decade has been modest, but O'Neill is confident the Scottish champions will improve. He said: “They will do. Absolutely. They definitely will. It might not be during my time but they will definitely do it. It’s a case of getting recruitment right.”
“I make the point that it is difficult because what is happening is we are trying to do our part to keep the coefficient going and that gets more difficult each year. And the more games you have need to qualify for the Champions League or the Europa League there is the chance that you might get knocked out early on.”
“But we are playing tomorrow night. We want to have a go. Really have a go. I think we are capable as well. While they are a really decent side that can carve people open, we will get chances in the game.”
O'Neill famously led Celtic to the 2003 UEFA Cup Final in Seville, where they lost to Porto. The odds are against him masterminding another memorable run to this year's final in Istanbul, but he is determined to take Celtic as far as possible in the competition.
He added: “The games are difficult. They are. It’s European football. It’s a big level. Benfica themselves are one of the favourites here. They and I suppose Juventus. And Milan, probably.”
“We’ve got a task in our hands. But at the end of the day. It depends how it’s taken. Somebody asked me about prioritising… but I think when we set out every single season, the league is really, really important.”
“European football, I’ve often said this before, is a diet in which you want to be feeding off. You really do. And it gets tougher every single year. It seems to get tougher for Scottish teams. But at the end of it all, let’s go and compete.”
