Rangers 3-0 Celtic – “On the day, just second best,” Martin O’Neill | OneFootball

Martin O’Neill spoke to the media at Ibrox this afternoon after Celtic exited the Premier Sports Cup at the quarter finals stage following a 3-0 mauling from the Rangers…

13th September 2026; Ibrox, Scottish League Cup Football, Rangers versus Celtic; Dan Neil of Rangers shoots and scores in the 22nd minute to make it 1-0. Photo Vagelis Georgariou

The Celtic performance was absolutely pathetic with only young Colby Donovan worthy of a passmark. Here’s everything that a shell-shocked Celtic manager had to say about today’s shambolic Celtic performance….

Q: Martin, what went wrong for your team today?

Martin O’Neill: “We were well beaten in the end. I thought the first half we didn’t capitalise, we had a couple of really decent chances when we’d broken their press. But on the day, just second best.”

13th September 2026; Ibrox. Scottish League Cup Football, Rangers versus Celtic; Rangers fans display. Photo Vagelis Georgariou

Q: What would you put that down to, Martin?

Martin O’Neill: “I think there has to be a realisation of how big this game is. It’s so important to the fans, so important to everybody. It’s still one of the great fixtures, as mentioned, in European football, if not the world. And people have got to know that. That’s the point. We’ll have to try and learn from it. We play next Sunday, we’ve got a midweek game. But really we have to. I think, hopefully, it’s a wake-up call. I have to look at myself for a start, then I look at the team. We were second best.”

Martin O’Neill at Ibrox. Premier Sports Cup quarter final. 13 September 2026. Photo Vagelis Georgariou

Q: Did that surprise you, Martin? You said it was a wake-up call.

Martin O’Neill:  “I think it is. You can go on, you can win some games, which we’ve been doing domestically and it’s been fine. We’ve found a way to win a couple of matches which were difficult for us. We were beaten today. Did Rangers surprise me? No. I think they’re strong. I think they’re physically strong. So it’ll be a big test for us next Sunday again, in every aspect.”

Q: Martin, you said that Rangers didn’t surprise you in terms of their commitment and effort levels, but were you surprised that they went with three at the back? Or do you think it was difficult for Celtic to deal with that?

Martin O’Neill:  “Not necessarily. I think you have to be able to deal with it. You deal with any sort of permutation that the opposition put in front of you. That’s their prerogative, to do exactly that. I’m not so sure it’s always to do with systems. Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn’t. But if you do misplace a lot of passes, when you have comfortable possession, I don’t think that’s got to do with the systems, myself. I think, we did misplace a lot of passes today when we were comfortable and choosing the wrong option when we were on the counter-attack.”

13th September 2026; Ibrox; Scottish League Cup Football, Rangers versus Celtic; Camilo Duran of Celtic. Photo Vagelis Georgariou

Q: Is that why you were unable to create such few opportunities?

Martin O’Neill:  “That’s true. We didn’t do. That’s a bit of a surprise to me. The one thing that I felt, and I think I’ve been saying to you for weeks, certainly domestically, we look as if we can create. So it didn’t materialise today. So we have to try and find out the reasons why. Just at this minute, I’m naturally disappointed, really disappointed about it. But we’ve got to gather ourselves together because the games are coming thick and fast for us.”

Q: Martin, you made one change at the break. Were you tempted to make more, especially a couple of boys on yellow cards?

Martin O’Neill: “It could have changed. Me personally, I think young Colby has come out of this with great credit. I think he’s an absolute warrior. Sometimes we misplace passes, but he’s got a big heart. I think we can all learn from that. And because of the size of his heart, he was booked in the first half, but he kept going right to the end. He was booked against St Mirren after about eight or nine minutes, still kept going. In terms of heart and desire, he’s been a big plus for us.”

Olwethu Makhanya of Rangers is challenged by Benjamin Nygren of Celtic during the Premier Sports Cup Quarter Final match between Rangers and Celtic at Ibrox Stadium on September 13, 2026. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Q: Martin, obviously there are no away fans on the ground today. Did that play any part? Do you think maybe some of your team are overawed by the occasion?

Martin O’Neill: “Well, a lot of boys have, you know, Kieran Tierney and Callum, people like this here and James Forrest, they’ve all won here when there’s been big crowds. And I think they’ve won. Was there anybody here when Covid set in? No? So they’ve played here before, so that I don’t know. But certainly for some of the younger and the newer lads, it’s an experience that I don’t think they’ll forget.”

13th September 2026; Ibrox, Scottish League Cup, Rangers versus Celtic; Sam Johnstone of Celtic comes off the team bus. Photo Vagelis Georgariou

Q: Martin, Sam Johnstone wasn’t the only Celtic player that found it difficult today but why did you opt for him ?

Martin O’Neill: “I want people to experience these games, because what other way am I going to learn about what people can or cannot do? What I don’t want to do is just put people in so that I can learn something from it. The main object is obviously to try and win, and it’s a fine balancing act from me.’

Q: Martin, is it a bad day at the office, or are you more concerned about the structural problems with the team at the moment?

Martin O’Neill: “Structural in what sense?

Q: Off the ball, losing possession?

Martin O’Neill: “Yes, I absolutely agree with you. I think we can do much, much better than that. I think we can get the ball back a bit more quickly than we certainly did today, and start getting back to dominating. So we’ll see what next Sunday brings. In normal circumstances, I wouldn’t mind just a full week to look at a few things and maybe work on a couple of things. But yes, we had players today who were below par, and well below par, and that’s not a great mix.”

13th September 2026; Ibrox, Scottish League Cup Football, Rangers versus Celtic; Benjamin Nygren of Celtic and Sebastian Tounekti of Celtic. Photo Vagelis Georgariou

Q: What was behind the decision to start with Sebastian Tounekti on the left? What was your thinking there?

Martin O’Neill: “Young Hassan had an overnight problem, and he didn’t get much sleep in all honesty, so it was just a matter of not starting him because of that. That’s the reason, really.”

Q: Do you expect a bit more from your new arrivals in some of this kind of game? Is that a bit of a culture shock?

Martin O’Neill: “I hope it is. I hope it is, absolutely. I’m sure it will be. It was a culture shock for me 26 years ago when I came here, we got smashed 5-1.”

Martin O’Neill, Manager of Celtic, arrives at the stadium before the Premier Sports Cup Quarter Final match between Rangers and Celtic at Ibrox Stadium on September 13, 2026. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Q: Martin, are you happy your next domestic fixture is against Rangers?

Martin O’Neill: “That would be good, yes. I’m looking forward to that I’m looking forward to our crowd making the same sort of noise as the Ibrox crowd made today.”

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