Chris Sutton questions Celtic starting XI against Besiktas, but why?

Former Celtic striker Chris Sutton has issued his verdict on Thursday night's big win over Besiktas.

The Bhoys needed a big result in Europe to give themselves any chance of progressing to the next round following three straight defeats. Martin O'Neill's men knew they would be up against it against a very strong Besiktas side, albeit they were without star striker Dusan Vlahovic through injury.

But despite going one goal down and with a much-changed team, with O'Neill making five changes to his starting lineup from Sunday's defeat to Falkirk, the Bhoys rallied back after three substitutions on the hour-mark.

Callum Osmand scored with his first touch and set up Camilo Durán with a fine pass shortly after. Durán also came off the bench at the same time and went on to score the winner.

Sutton believes both players should have started, claiming on X: "Credit where credit is due. Lots of pressure on the team going into this game. Far from perfect but not an easy place to play in the current climate. Good use of the bench (should have started Osmand and Duran) and a much better second half performance. Maybe a glimmer…"

It's easy to say Durán and Osmand could have started, but what's to say they would have had the same impact on the game from the start?

Besiktas were fresh-legged and potentially able to deal with Celtic's biggest threats much better from the off, whereas the duo came on and ran riot in the last half-hour.

The reality is that Martin O'Neill took a big risk here, and he played it perfectly, because the team he started kept Celtic in the game against a very good team for around an hour, albeit they fell one behind, and then some of his most dangerous players came on and won it.

That's not by chance or luck, it was good game planning and good timing with the substitutions. It's not to say it's worth repeating, and Durán and Osmand will likely start the majority of the upcoming games.

But on this occasion, it worked brilliantly, so suggesting it should have been done differently makes no sense. Can we not give credit for a great team selection when the manager so clearly gets it right?

On this occasion, he did get it right, and it deserves even more credit because if those five changes had led to a heavy defeat, O'Neill may genuinely have found himself in trouble.