Martin O’Neill has given an update on Arne Engels and is also looking ahead to Thursday night’s Europa League knockout playoff tie against VfB Stuttgart…
Julian Araujo struck in the 97th minute to seal a vital three points over Kilmarnock at the weekend, triggering jubilant celebrations among the visiting support at Rugby Park.
It followed another dramatic week for O’Neill’s side, who required a stoppage-time equaliser to remain in the Scottish Cup against Dundee last weekend, before also grabbing a late victory in their Premiership clash with Livingston in midweek.
O’Neill is demanding a higher standard from his side ahead of a punishing run of fixtures, with Stuttgart visiting Glasgow in the Europa League on Thursday before key domestic tests against Hibs and Aberdeen, followed by a double encounter at Ibrox.
Celtic will also be without Arne Engels, who is expected to be sidelined until the end of March due to a thigh injury. O’Neill acknowledged that he may be forced to prioritise matters at home, even if that means shifting the club’s European ambitions down the list for now.
Speaking at his post match media conference at Rugby Park, the Hoops boss said: “Arne will be out The international window, unless he does really, really well in recovery. I can’t see us having him before that, which would be end of March. It’s a big loss for us absolutely. That’s why getting Alex in has been so crucial for us. He was class.”
O’Neill stressed he has no desire to abandon their European campaign, but conceded: “Obviously it’s against my nature. After we had beaten Feyenoord, I thought that was the end for me, in terms of games of European matches.”
“But then getting a result in Bologna, I just didn’t want it to go to waste for the effort that the team had put in. So and we followed up by beating Utrecht, that gets you in.”
O’Neill added: “But if you want to be really honest about it, there’s some big, big teams still in that competition and it’s a long way from home as well.”
“If you went through against Stuttgart in the Bundesliga, you’re still talking about into the last 16. That seems like miles away. If it was a bit closer, you know, then you could think about it. But just having said this, wouldn’t want to give it up.”
Conor Spence
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