‘That was a world class performance’ – O’Neill hails Celtic’s new Colombian star | OneFootball

Celtic manager Martin O’Neill lauded Camilo Durán following his side’s 3-0 victory over LASK in the first leg of their Champions League play-off. The Colombian winger put on a spectacle, treating Celtic fans with a smashed volley from the edge of the box to give the home side a 2-0 lead at half-time and adding another in the second half after a slick one-two with Benjamin Nygren before caressing a shot into the top left corner. And the Celtic boss offered high praise of his new star man. “He’s an absolutely brilliant footballer. We spotted him some time ago and we tried to get him earlier than we did. I’m so pleased to see him here. He’s just magnificent,” O’Neill told TNT Sports. “I’m not saying at this minute that he’s a world class player, what I am saying is that was a world class performance, in every sense. Not only the goals that he scored and taking people on, but getting back. If I were playing full-back, I’d be delighted to have him in front of me because he’d be doing my job for me.”

Celtic paid around £4 million to sign the 24-year-old from Qarabağ last month, a fee that O’Neill believes will be worth every penny. “Whatever we paid for Durán, I think he has paid his ticket by now, and he’s only into his fourth game. I don’t think it was an awful lot of money when you consider some of the things that they’re talking about in the Premier League. I think he’s a real bargain,” O’Neill added in his post-match press conference. Although the scoreline suggests a dominant performance from Celtic, the home side were under severe pressure in the first half, with Nygren’s curling opener coming fairly against the run of play. “I thought it was a really tough evening for us. We won 3-0 but they are a very good side. I said to the players beforehand that they’ve got plenty of pace upfront, and they’re a very fine and talented team. We’ve got our work cut out still but we’ve given ourselves a chance,” said O’Neill. “I thought there were periods where we played some really fantastic stuff, and there were also periods where they played fantastic stuff. Particularly in the first half, we rode a little bit of luck. They started the brighter and it took us about 15 minutes to get into our stride, and even then it was back and forward”.“I’m not playing it down because it was a great result for us tonight, but there’s a long way to go.”