Martin O’Neill hits back at criticism of Celtic comments after Benfica defeat

The 74-year-old raised eyebrows after choosing to focus on the positives from Celtic’s second-half performance, despite his side finding themselves three goals down early in the contest.

However, the Hoops responded emphatically on Sunday, thrashing Hearts 7-1 in a remarkable display at Celtic Park.

O’Neill believes that result vindicated his decision to highlight the positives in Portugal, insisting his priority was restoring confidence within the dressing room rather than concerning himself with outside criticism.

Speaking to Celtic Player, O’Neill said: “Well, the interesting thing you talk about the media, in all honesty, is that I know whatever you say, it’ll go whatever way they want it to go. But I was really positive about the second half.

“I told the players in the dressing room after the Benfica game that that’s it, we’ve got to take the positive side of it, otherwise you just might as well lie down.

“I wasn’t widely bothered about what media or fanzines were saying at the end of it all, as long as the players believed it was the most important thing. And they certainly did.

“We had great moments on Sunday, it was lovely to win, it was lovely to score the goals that we did. And now we’ve got a massive game on Thursday to try and win, to try and get back into that competition.”

The Celtic boss also reserved special praise for youngster Callum Osmand, who marked his first start for the club with two goals against Hearts.

He added: “I mean, for instance, if you think that young Osmand playing wide, that was his first start ever for Celtic. He’s played wide, it’s not really his favourite position.

“He wants to probably play alongside the centre-forward. Hopefully that will happen in time. Callum did very, very well, scored the goals, and looked a really decent player.”