Celtic’s win against Feyenoord was a special night for us all.
In a season of unrest, uncertainty and disappointment, seeing Martin O’Neill guiding the Hoops to an away win in the Europa League was just what the Parkhead support needed.
It was just what Celtic needed too, resurrecting their European campaign ahead of their final three matches of the League Phase.
When Ayase Ueda opened the scoring for the hosts after just ten minutes, it felt like it was going to be one of those nights.
But the team showed character to recover and come back with all three points – and the stats emphasise just why the victory was so special.
Stats from Celtic’s Europa League win vs Feyenoord
Yang Hyun-Jun and Reo Hatate turned it around before the break, before Benjamin Nygren came from the bench to seal it in the latter stages.
The result saw Celtic rise back into the qualification places of a competition in which they have grossly underperformed in recent years.
READ MORE: Iconic ex-Real Madrid midfielder names Celtic Park as the best stadium he has played in
O’Neill was the last man to guide Celtic to victory in a European knockout tie, against Barcelona in the UEFA Cup over 20 years ago.
Since then, it has mostly been an era of embarrassing upsets, heavy defeats and early exits. It’s been frustrating stuff.
Remarkably, O’Neill is now responsible for 17% of Celtic’s away European wins since the UEFA Cup final in 2003. That’s despite him taking charge of a tiny portion of the club’s games in that period.
It was also the Celts’ first win in the Netherlands since O’Neill’s famous 3-1 win at Ajax in 2001. That’s after six failed attempts.
Additionally, the result was Celtic’s biggest margin of away victory in the Europa League since the famous win at Anfield on the road to Seville.
The Hoops remain the only Scottish side to win in European League Phase action this season. The facts just get better for O’Neill and Celtic.
It’s quite the number of stats to accumulate to make in just a short interim period.
Martin O’Neill’s interim spell in charge of Celtic
O’Neill has now won five of his six matches since replacing Brendan Rodgers on an interim basis.
In that time, he has halved the deficit at the top of the Scottish Premiership, winning all of his domestic games.
He has also secured the Celts’ place in the final of the Premier Sports Cup with an unforgettable 3-1 extra-time win against Rangers at Hampden.
He has won 4-0 in both of his home matches in charge, successfully bringing Johnny Kenny and Callum Osmand in from the cold.
What did you learn from the win against Feyenoord?
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
