Martin O’Neill admits Celtic’s 2003 UEFA Cup final keeps him awake at night

Martin O’Neill leads Celtic into Europa League action on Thursday admitting he still has nightmares about his last match in the competition with the club.

O’Neill, back in interim charge of the Hoops after Brendan Rodgers’ resignation last week, faces the stiffest test so far of his 10 days in charge, away against Danish side FC Midtjylland.

The 73-year-old comeback ‘kid’ has brought a feel-good factor back to the Bhoys with a morale-boosting 4-0 league win over Falkirk followed by Sunday’s rousing victory over Old Firm rivals Rangers to reach the Premier Sports Cup final.

He is under no illusions about the size of the task facing his side, however, with Midtjylland at the top of the standings with three wins from three, including one at Ange Postecoglou’s Nottingham Forest.

“This is massive, really, really big,” said the Northern Irishman, “They are a very, very good side, seriously, a really good team and they deserve to be where they are.

“So they’ve got nine points, it’s no surprise to me, although I didn’t realise how good they were until I saw them against Forest.”

O’Neill is synonymous with what was then the UEFA Cup after taking Celtic to the final in 2003, where they were edged out 3-2 by Jose Mourinho’s Porto.

“We got beaten in the final so it’s not great news,” he added. “That’s a long time ago, 2003.

“If you were asking me a week ago would I ever actually be involved in another European game, I think you’d have a fair idea what the answer was.

“The 2003 games, yeah, they are very vivid. When I think about Blackburn Rovers, big game for us and we go and defeat them and that was important.

“Then we go and beat Liverpool in the quarter-final which was fantastic, then we scramble over the line in the semi-final (against Boavista).

“Then we lose to a very, very talented side in the final – who spent a lot of time on the ground I must admit, a lot of time. That keeps me awake at night.”

Celtic have added 19-year-old Callum Osmand to their European squad to replace the injured Cameron Carter-Vickers.

Osmand made his first-team debut off the bench against Falkirk and scored his first goal for the club at Hampden.

“It was just an automatic thing for him to come in,” said O’Neill. “It’s been amazing really for him.

“He’s a really nice lad and he’s sharp and he’s good. I like him, but it’s early yet.”

Goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, celebrating his 39th birthday on the eve of the match, shed some light on what the O’Neill factor has given the team.

“One of the first things the boss said was to remind us that we are a very good team,” said the Dane.

“And I think that was one of the big issues with us, we were lacking a bit of confidence. Confidence always helps massively and when you’ve got very good players like we do, then that’s how you transform those near misses into wins.”