“There’s something special about this place,” Martin O’Neill on De Kuip

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The Celtic Star

·26 de novembro de 2025

“There’s something special about this place,” Martin O’Neill on De Kuip

Martin O’Neill talked about Celtic’s massive disappointment in losing the 1970 European Cup Final to Feyenoord in Milan in a match he said Celtic had expected to win after beating Leeds United in the semi-final…

Billy McNeill, European Cup Final 1970, San Siro Milan. Celtic v Feyernoord. 6 May 1970. Photo The Celtic Wiki.

“The 1970 final was a massive disappointment for us,” Martin said. “We had beaten Leeds in the semi-final and were expected to win, but Feyenoord won the game. It has history attached. I’ve just looked outside – some of the great names of world football are on the wall. There is something special about this place.”

Vídeos OneFootball

Celtic dejection after the 1970 European Cup Final against Feyenoord in the San Siro, Milan on 6 May 1970. Photo The Celtic Wiki

It was a rather short and rather strange media conference, certainly much different from the ones Brendan Rodgers would give at away venues on European nights. Auston Trusty sat alongside the interim Celtic manager and was asked about talking to international teammates about incoming Celtic boss Wilfried Nancy who is expected to take over on Monday from the interim management team.

On the match O’Neill, while dismissing his Celtic side from two decades ago winning brilliantly in Amsterdam against Ajax as being irrelevant, he did stress the important thing is to try to win the game.

Martin O’Neill arrives at St Mirren Park. St Mirren v Celtic, 23 November 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou

“We are going to try and win the game, of course,” Martin O’Neill said. “It’s Feyenoord we are playing, so it will be very difficult. Their confidence comes from themselves, not from what we might or might not do, but we’ve picked up plenty of confidence as well,” he said.

“We had a really tough match against Midtjylland, but we’ve made progress since then, certainly domestically, and we’re looking forward to the game.

“I think we’re going in with confidence. We didn’t play brilliantly against St Mirren, but we won the game. Winning always gives you confidence, so we’ll try our might tomorrow, but it will be a difficult match.”

Martin noted that he’d never been involved in a game at De Kuip before in his career but sensed the atmosphere around the famous arena. “There’s something special about this place,” the Celtic legend said.

Watch Martin’s media conference alongside Auston Trusty below…

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