Martin O'Neill says bold Celtic team selection for Besiktas win was no fluke

Martin O'Neill says Thursday night's bold team selection coming off against Besiktas was no fluke. Celtic won 3-2 in what was a must-win Europa League clash following a dire start to the competition.

Celtic had lost all three Europa League games and had to find a way to pick up all three points against a very strong Besiktas side at home if they wanted to stay in with a chance of progressing to the next round with four games remaining.

They did just that, ultimately winning 3-2 after coming from behind, conceding an equaliser with five minutes left and scoring a winner less than two minutes after that.

Surprisingly, O'Neill made five changes to his lineup and started top scorer Camilo Durán on the bench, as well as the in-form Callum Osmand.

But after the much-changed lineup held its own for an hour, albeit going behind through a penalty, O'Neill made three changes at the hour mark, which included Osmand, Durán and Colby Donovan, and the game changed.

Osmand went on to score and assist, while Durán scored twice, including the winner. But the dangerous frontman changing the game was no fluke, according to O'Neill, who knew they could have a bigger impact off the bench in this particular instance.

"No, I'm serious. I'm not standing up for myself. It was designed to do exactly what it did," he said in his post-match press conference.

"We have been playing we've been playing Sunday, Thursday, Sunday, Thursday, Wednesday, whatever day it happens to be. We have played, I don't know what, nine games in 23 days or 24 days.

"Some players needed a little breather and you can get re-energised from coming on the field. So no, absolutely not. So I'm going to say that this was exactly our plan. And those players who came on were going to come on at some stage or another in the game."

Speaking about what he told the players at full-time, he added: "I just said to the team, 'You were a credit to the football club.' You can't get a bigger accolade than that. So they were really, really terrific.

"We could have caved in, we were doing fine after the penalty goes in, but we came roaring back and the substitutes made a big, big difference as well too. We got a lot of pace up front, but I was just delighted with the whole team."