Manager: We want to kick off Europa League campaign with a win

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Celtic F.C.

·17 September 2026

Manager: We want to kick off Europa League campaign with a win

Celtic begin the league phase of their UEFA Europa League campaign with a home match against Ferencvaros this Thursday night (KO: 8pm).

And Martin O’Neill is looking for his side to kick off with a victory that would put three points on the board.

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That won’t be an easy task, given they are playing against a Ferencvaros side that has only lost one game this season, which came back in July on the opening day of the league campaign.

However, the Celtic manager believes his side can bounce back from the weekend derby defeat and get the Europa League campaign off to a positive start.

Speaking ahead of Thursday night’s game, Martin O’Neill said: “We’re looking forward to it. The whole idea of trying to win the league is to get into European football.

“We were hoping it might have been Champions League, so that was a disappointment, but the Europa League is still very strong and I'd like to get off to a decent start if we could.

“So it’s just about balancing the side a wee bit between tomorrow and then Sunday, because it'll be our seventh game in 22 days.

“I think any side playing in European football will provide us with problems and we just have to try and overcome them. It really is as simple as that.

“So I don't treat the game lightly at all. I'd like to try and win it if we can and it would be nice to get off to a good start if that was possible.”

The manager also confirmed that, even though he missed training today, Camilo Duran will be available for tomorrow night’s match against Ferencvaros.

The striker, who has been called up for the Colombian national squad, needed to travel to London today to sort out visa issues ahead of the international break.

Reflecting on the weekend derby defeat at Ibrox, the manager said: “The players are disappointed with the performance. We could have done better and I think we accept that. We were knocked out and we just apply ourselves now again for the league fixtures.

“We disappointed ourselves, we disappointed the fans in the game and we just have to rise to the occasion. We've got two matches in which to do so before the break.

“The season will be tough. Tomorrow night will be tough and Sunday will be very tough as well, and it's up to us to find ways to try and win football matches regardless of who plays.”

As for the challenge Ferencvaros will pose at Celtic Park on Thursday night, the Hoops boss added: “I think they will be tough. They have some players in the side who are exceptional footballers and they will cause us lots of problems.

“But we hope, being at home, to try and get the crowd on our side as much as possible and try and win it. I want to try and get some points early on the board, so we'll be striving for that.”