Martin O'Neill played an absolute blinder with his Celtic team selection on Thursday night as they picked up a dramatic late 3-2 win over Besiktas at Parkhead.
Celtic put in a solid first half performance defensively but didn't have enough bite to cause Besiktas any issues at the back. Soon after the break, Jordan Lotomba, who had been playing well, dived in at the byline and brought down his man to concede a silly penalty.
Sam Johnstone actually saved the spot-kick but the ball dropped just underneath the crossbar for a simple tap-in on the rebound.
Celtic responded well but to no avail until O'Neill made three changes on the hour-mark, and Callum Osmand, who came off the bench, scored with a fine strike from the edge of the box with his first touch. Callum McGregor did some nice work in the build-up, driving forward before cutting the ball across the edge of the box.
The Bhoys looked as though they might hold on until Orkun Kocku was allowed too much space to shoot from range, and he took advantage, finding the near post with a powerful effort.
But less than two minutes later, Kieran Tierney shot from range and saw his effort deflected into the path of Durán, who reacted quickly to prod home and secure all three points. And it's three points that keeps the Hoops in the competition with four games remaining.
O'Neill changes pay off
O'Neill made five changes for this game, including some surprise players like James Forrest, Sebastian Tounekti and Jordan Lotomba, while top scorer Durán was dropped to the bench.
But the changes paid off, even if the impact wasn't obvious. For 60 minutes, Celtic did not have enough to cause Besiktas problems going forward, but they held a very good team to 0-0 for the entirety of the first half and only conceded through a mental error from Lotomba, who did well in spells but gave away a sloppy penalty.
But the Bhoys were largely solid, and they haven't been very often against good teams this season, especially in Europe, so credit to those who started, and as soon as those more dangerous players came off the bench at the hour-mark, it all changed.
Celtic were dangerous from there and had a platform to build on, rather than being dangerous from the start and petering out, as they have too many times in Europe this season.
It was bold from O'Neill, who would have had big questions to answer had his side lost a must-win game while starting his top scorer on the bench, but he played a blinder, and overall, Celtic were pretty good value for the win against a very good team.
In terms of how he managed this game, this was probably O'Neill's best performance of the season.
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