On This Day: European Qualifier Wins, O’Neill’s first game and Stateside visits

On This Day in Celtic’s illustrious history, Celtic have played European Qualifiers, played in the United States and Martin O’Neill sampled his first football as Celtic manager at Paradise. Thanks to LilZe_7 on Twitter, we are able to keep up with games that happened on these days.

2014 – Ronny Deila’s Celtic faced KR Reykjavik in the second leg of their Champions League Qualifier. Callum McGregor scored the winner in the first leg in Iceland. With Celtic Park being used for The Commonwealth Games, Celtic were playing their games at the Home of Scottish Rugby in Edinburgh at Murrayfield. Virgil Van Dijk and Teemu Pukki were the stars of the show, scoring a brace apiece as Celtic sealed their place in the next round with a 5-0 aggregate win.

2015 – Celtic faced Icelandic side Stjarnan in The Champions League Qualifiers. Despite conceding early on, Ronny Deila’s Celtic bounced back to a convincing win thanks to goals from Nir Bitton, Charlie Mulgrew, Leigh Griffiths and Stefan Johansen.

2000 – Martin O’Neill took charge of his first game as Celtic manager at Paradise. The ex-Nottingham Forest midfielder had been poached from Leicester City and promised to bring back the glory years to Celtic Park and he certainly delivered on that. The opener finished 4-2 to the visitors in a game that featured goals from Mark Burchill and Henrik Larsson. The game highlighted that Celtic needed to tighten up their defence, something that O’Neill would soon set about rectifying in a season that would live long in the memory of supporters.

2007 – Celtic drew 1-1 with Chicago Fire at Bridgeview Stadium, Illinois. A goal from Derek Riordan sealed a draw for Gordon Strachan’s side in a tougher-than-expected US trip.

2010 – Celtic beat Sporting Lisbon on penalties after a 1-1 draw at Fenway Park. As a result, Scott Brown lifted the Fenway Football Challenge Trophy after being presented it by Fergus McCann.

About Author

The Celtic Star founder and editor, who has edited numerous Celtic books over the past decade or so including several from Lisbon Lions, Willie Wallace, Tommy Gemmell and Jim Craig. Earliest Celtic memories include a win over East Fife at Celtic Park and the 4-1 League Cup loss to Partick Thistle as a 6 year old. Best game? Easy 4-2, 1979 when Ten Men Won the League. Email editor@thecelticstar.co.uk

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