Joe Hart is right, Camilo Durán is Celtic's 'saviour'

Former Celtic goalkeeper Joe Hart has been speaking about the importance of Camilo Durán after Thursday night's huge win over Besiktas.

With three defeats from three games in Europe and 1-0 down in the 60th minute against a very good Besiktas side, Celtic were staring down the barrel of a Europa League exit, or at least realistically speaking if not mathematically.

Celtic had actually competed well for the first hour, but they found themselves behind due to a rebounded penalty. Then Durán and Callum Osmand joined the action.

Osmand scored immediately and then turned provider for a Durán goal, with the Colombian also going on to score a winner just a couple of minutes remaining.

It was a vital win for Celtic, who were once again helped by the goals for Durán, with the striker now having scored 13 in all this season, proving himself a bargain signing for just £5.5million.

Speaking about Celtic's Thursday night win on the Overlap Daily, former keeper Hart said: “That’s the thing about that club, and that is why I adore it, and I’m so pleased that I got to spend time there and be a part of it. The expectancy and the expectation, unless you are a Celtic man or a Celtic person, you wouldn’t understand, because, like you say, they’re still top.

“And domestically, Celtic have lost two and drawn one in 11 games. It’s not the reason. I was looking at how they’ve started leagues in the past eight, nine years, and they’re right up there with what they do, but they’re not flowing. The strikers aren’t scoring.”

He added: “Camilo Durán has been an absolute saviour this season. Him and Callum Osmand came on, I think, around the 60th minute, with it looking ominous, 1-0 down against Besiktas, who were flying high, a good team.

“He (Osmand) had it last year. He’s the one who scored when they beat Heart of Midlothian 3-1, and he got to run the length of the field on his own. He scored a couple of big goals in the title run-in as well.”

As Hart rightly points out, Celtic are relying pretty heavily on Durán and Osmand currently, with both players adding a real spark, and the type of spark that few others are offering on a regular basis.

The issue is that Celtic are having to play Osmand wide due to Durán playing centrally, and that does create some defensive liability, but without a two-striker system, that's the risk-reward O'Neill has to balance.