Celtic

Celtic narrowed the gap to Hearts at the top of the Scottish Premiership to seven points with a deserved home win over struggling Kilmarnock.

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Celtic interim manager Martin O'Neill told BBC Scotland: "Delighted to have won, great to score an early goal - it settled things after Thursday night. There were some parts of the performance I was absolutely delighted with.

"I was very concerned about the game before, but that's typical me - I'm always concerned about matches beforehand. There were very good bits, we defended strongly.

"I'm pleased to win, pleased for Kieran [Tierney] to score a goal. There were moments there were you thought 'that's the old player he was at one stage'. Injuries have hit him badly, but he's fighting back.

"I keep saying to Johnny [Kenny], centre forward is the hardest outfield place to play. He is improving. Sometimes it's very difficult for a centre forward to play up there on your own when you've got two wide men. He's really doing fine.

"I'm delighted we've won, and you do need help when you're chasing someone, but there's a long way to go.

"I'll take a little time in the international break, most of our players will be away, and there will be time of inner reflection. It's been a whirlwind of a fortnight, I can't believe it's really happened.

"It's been the most surreal fortnight. Without doubt [I need to lie down in a darkened room].

"I genuinely don't know [if I'll be back in two weeks]. If the board make up their mind, it's absolutely fine by me."

Bodo/Glimt head coach Kjetil Knutsen, whose contract ends at the turn of the year, is keen to take the vacant Celtic job but wants to see out first the Norwegian side's Champions League campaign, which could stretch into January or beyond. (Graeme Bailey on X), external

Former Republic of Ireland striker Robbie Keane is happy to be linked with the Celtic job because it means he is doing something right in charge of Ferencvaros. (The Herald On Sunday), external

Former Real Madrid goalkeeper Keylor Navas says reports linking Pumas UNAM head coach Efrain Juarez with Celtic simply shows that they have a quality team boss in charge. (AS Mexico), external

Bookmakers suggest it is a straight shoot-out between Bodo/Glimt's Kjetil Knutsen or Columbus Crew's Wilfried Nancy to be the next Celtic manager. (Scottish Sun On Sunday), external

Celtic are planning a £500,000 move for 33-year-old Manchester City goalkeeper Stefan Ortega in January. (Star On Sunday, print edition)

Andy Robertson could move to Celtic as early as January, with the Scotland captain open to a pre-contract agreement with his boyhood club, but a one-year extension with Liverpool also remains an option for the 31-year-old left-back. (TeamTalk), external

Read Sunday's Scottish Gossip in full.

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Celtic have lost Callum Osmand to a hamstring injury and Arne Engels is a doubt with a less serious issue.

The champions remain without Alistair Johnston and Kelechi Iheanacho with similar injuries, while Cameron Carter-Vickers (Achilles) and Jota (knee) are long-term absentees.

Forward Marley Watkins is closing on a return for Kilmarnock after his foot injury, but is unlikely to feature while Matty Kennedy and Djenairo Daniels remain out.

Jane Lewis
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

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Liam Scales says Celtic must grab the "opportunity to put things right" when they face Kilmarnock on Sunday after admitting the performance against Midtjylland "wasn't good enough".

The Danes made it four wins from four in the Europa League and impressed with a performance full of intent as they dismantled Celtic in the opening 45 minutes.

The defender said it was a "difficult night" for the team in Denmark as Martin O'Neill's side lost 3-1.

"We want to win every game," the centre-back said. "We know that was not good enough, losing like that. The game was over when the three goals went in.

"We could have avoided that. We could have been stronger after the first. The second half would have been a different game.

"Physically, it could have been the best physical side I think I've played against ever.

"They were really strong, really aggressive all over the pitch. A good side, really well organised, really physical. They're top of the Europa League for a reason."

Celtic now return to Scottish Premiership duty, when the Ayrshire side visit Glasgow on Sunday.

Interim team O'Neill and Shaun Maloney will once again be in the dugout, with Scales insisting the managerial situation is not affecting the squad.

"We know we just have to deal with it as it comes," said the Republic of Ireland international.

"Things chop and change in football all the time, so we're used to it.

"It's been nice to work with Martin and the lads. They've all been really good. Shaun's a top coach and the lads they've brought in. It's been good."

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• Celtic have won their past six meetings with Kilmarnock in all competitions, last winning more in a row in April 2015 (8).

• Kilmarnock have only won one of their past 86 away games against Celtic in all competitions (D18 L67), going winless in their last 21 (D4 L17) since a 2-0 league triumph in October 2012 under Kenny Shiels.

• Since the start of last season, Celtic have kept 17 clean sheets in 24 home league games, conceding just 11 goals. The Parkhead club have kept four shutouts in their five home league matches this campaign.

• Kilmarnock have lost their past four league games, their longest losing run in the Scottish Premiership since February 2021, when they suffered eight successive defeats.

• Benjamin Nygren has scored (5) or assisted (2) 44% of Celtic's league goals this season (7/16); only Cameron Congreve of Dundee has been directly involved in a higher proportion of a side's Scottish Premiership goals (56% - 5/9).

Bodo/Glimt's Kjetil Knutsen, who has led the Norwegian club since 2018, has surged past Martin O'Neill to be the favourite to become permanent Celtic boss. (The Scotsman)

O'Neill says he will "go back to drinking coffee, which is rather expensive in London" if his tenure at Celtic ended on Monday. (Scottish Sun)

Read the rest of Saturday's gossip.

George O'Neill
BBC Sport Scotland

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Celtic interim manager Martin O'Neill has been talking to the media before his side's Scottish Premiership match against Kilmarnock on Sunday.

Here are the best bits from his news conference:

• Callum Osmand has gone for a scan on the hamstring injury he sustained in Thursday's defeat by Midtjylland, but O'Neill says it "doesn't look good".

• Fellow striker Kelechi Iheanacho is not in contention for Sunday's match and will be absent for another couple of weeks.

• O'Neill stresses Midtjylland are a very strong team, but says the defeat is evidence of how far Celtic are behind where they want to be.

• He says he is not aware of any update regarding the appointment of a new manager.

• O'Neill dismissed Chris Sutton's comments that poor results during this interim spell could damage his legacy at Celtic.

• He adds: "I've honestly no concern about a legacy, never have had. It genuinely doesn't worry me one jot, never has done. When you're dead, you're dead."

• The Northern Irishman thinks he will probably look back on this interim spell with disbelief in a year's time, but says if nothing else, he will always have the victory over Rangers in the Premier Sports Cup semi-final.

• If there was to be a new manager in place on Monday, that would be "fine" by O'Neill.

Caleb Akpo-Young
BBC Sport Scotland

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An injury to Callum Osmand compounded Celtic's misery on a painful Europa League night in Denmark as they were soundly beaten by Midtjylland.

The 19-year-old, who had come off the bench at half-time and won the penalty converted by Reo Hatate in the 3-1 defeat, was stretchered off in the closing stages and faces a spell on the sidelines.

So where does Osmand's absence leave Martin O'Neill's striker options?

It says much about the lack of armoury up front that losing Osmand - who was making just his third appearance and has yet to start a game - is a blow.

Celtic are already without first-choice strike Kelechi Iheanacho beacuse of a hamstring injury suffered in the previous European game against Sturm Graz. The Nigeria international didn't travel with the squad to Denmark and will be out for "a few more weeks", according to O'Neill.

So that leaves Johnny Kenny, who has three goals in his past three appearances, as the main man up top, although Daizen Maeda can also shift from wide to the central role, as he proved to devastating effect last season.

Beyond that, the only other option is Shin Yamada. The Japanese forward was signed from Kawasaki Frontale for £1.5m in the summer but was not included in Celtic's Europa League squad list along with other seemingly isolated players Hayato Inamura and Jahmai Simpson-Pusey.

His last appearance came as a substitute in Brendan Rodgers' final game in charge, the 3-1 loss to Hearts. Prior to that, the 25-year-old had not featured for nine matches.

Yamada is yet to start a game for Celtic, but could he come in from the cold to stake a claim in a threadbare frontline?

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Scott Bain says Falkirk have helped him rekindle his passion for football after several seasons as a back-up at Celtic.

The 33-year-old joined the Premiership newcomers on a one-year deal after his contract at Parkhead expired and has since made 14 appearances.

Bain was named in Steve Clarke's Scotland squad for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Greece and Denmark having won the last of his three international caps in 2019.

Scotland's regular first-choice Angus Gunn is out injured and he believes his move to Falkirk has thrust him back into contention.

"It was all about getting regular games, playing again," he said. "I wanted to see if I still had this desire and hunger.

"And thankfully, after a couple of weeks, I knew that I did. I'd still had that fire in the belly, as they say, and wanted to improve and be better. And over the course of the pre-season, I got my eye back in and I felt really good and really comfortable."

Bain won 14 major honours with Celtic, but had dropped to third choice in his final season.

He was full of praise for Celtic and his time there, but says he missed the "buzz" of being involved on matchday and his priorities in life had shifted.

"There were times when I thought, that's fine," he said of his situation in Glasgow. "Monday to Friday, really enjoyed it, training hard. Everything at the club was fantastic.

"And then it would come to a Saturday and you'd do the warm up. You'd feel the buzz of the game and then the boys would go out. If you weren't on the bench you'd be sat there and you'd think, 'what's the point?' It's difficult.

"If I was just me and had no responsibilities, then I think I probably would have left earlier. But me and my partner, we have a young boy now. So I think the responsibilities of that sort of kept me in.

"Yeah, I get paid well. I get everything that I need. I'm missing the game, but overall, is this going to benefit my family more to be here? And I think at the time it did.

"But the last year I wasn't on the bench really at all. I felt like to go through life without the purpose and the motivation to get better and to play football and to really enjoy it every day. It took over and I needed to get that back."

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We asked for your views on Celtic's 3-1 defeat against Midtjylland in the Europa League.

Here's what some of you said:

John: I don't think we should read too much into this game. We know we are below this level at the moment. I believe we should concentrate on our domestic games and try and rebuild from there. One of the things that I think is obvious is we need bigger and stronger players to match the physicality of these other teams.

Steven: We've seen this performance coming since transfer deadline day. Now here we are with virtually no forward options and a threadbare squad. I'm so glad we didn't end up in the Champions League. This year I'm not sure we would have coped with Conference League, which is where this club is heading if nothing changes.

James: Really poor defensive performance. Underlines what we knew from last season's cup final, that a number of players are adequate for our domestic games but the lack of quality is seriously exposed in Europe. Let's forfeit Europe this season and win our domestic competitions. Concentrate on bringing in a top manager and an injection of quality players throughout the team.

Patrick: It's now obvious that not all the problems are resolved, if it wasn't obvious already. Very tired players meaning they switched off too much. The injuries are really concerning now, that could be our undoing.

Andy: Could have been worse and demonstrates the lack of quality and depth in the squad. Exertion from Sunday can't be used as an excuse. I can't understand why no matter who is in charge we never change for Europe. Set-up is same as playing in SPFL when the opposition is 100 times better.

Paul: Back to reality with yet another European away-day nightmare for Celtic whose frailties were totally exposed by a very dominant Midtjylland side. Unless the hierarchy in the boardroom invest more money into buying quality players who can perform in Europe, then these poor results will continue I'm afraid.

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Former Celtic player Johan Mjallby on TNT Sports

This must be a wake-up call for everyone. I do think the manager would want to play with two strikers, but he can't. I don't think it would matter if he had four world-class strikers if you can't defend.

BBC Scotland chief sports writer Tom English on BBC Sportsound

The whole 'Martin O'Neill effect' thing was so overblown by so many people. This is an awful chasing. Celtic's record in Europe, particularly away from home, is an abomination and this is another grim chapter.

Former Scotland defender Robbie Neilson on the BBC's Scottish Football podcast

You'd expect Celtic to go there and put on a better performance, but they kind of got outclassed.

Former Rangers forward Rory Loy on the BBC's Scottish Football podcast

It was always going to be a tough game. Midtjylland have started the Europa League campaign extremely well, top of the tree. There was a little bit of optimism from Celtic fans to see if they could continue the momentum, but never transpired that way, which is unfortunate.

Celtic, I don't think they'll be too despondent. They've had two really good results domestically and they're not the first or the last team that will go to Midtjylland this year and be beaten.

Jane Lewis
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter in Denmark

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Celtic captain Callum McGregor admits "a lot has been thrown" at Celtic this season, but insists he'll relish the "challenge" of trying to turn things around.

The defending Scottish champions have endured a troublesome start to the campaign, including failing to qualify for the Champions League, falling off the title pace behind Hearts and also seeing Brendan Rodgers resign as manager.

While safe passage was secured to the League Cup final after defeating Rangers on Sunday, McGregor and his team endured a tough time in Denmark on Thursday as Midtjylland recorded a 3-1 Europa League win.

"It's been a difficult start," he said.

"There's been a lot of thrown at us. But we're still in all the competitions. That's something to be said.

"We're just getting into November, and that is the challenge you have to find a way to keep winning and win enough games, pick up enough points to be where you want to be.

"I actually see it as a challenge. The more they throw at you, can you be successful and come out the other end of it?"

McGregor has described the defeat by Midtjylland, which leaves Celtic 27th in the 36-team Europa League table, with only four points from four matches, as a "learning curve".

Under interim boss Martin O'Neill, there have been signs of improvement in the Glasgow club, but a sluggish opening period in Denmark left Celtic with a mountain to climb.

"The first half killed you," said the Parkhead captain of his team who went in 3-0 down at half-time.

"It was that six or seven-minute period where we lost the goals. It makes it really difficult in the second half.

"Nothing's been solved after what was a really good game at the weekend. We know that, we don't get too up or too down.

"We come away here against a really good side, a good club, they do a lot of good things and they know what they are. There's a lot of growth still left in our team as well. We know where we are and we know where we want to get to."

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Chris Sutton cautions his former Celtic manager Martin O'Neill not to "stay on too long and damage his legacy" after the latter returned to the club as interim boss. (Sun), external

mmidfielder Arne Engels picked up a muscle issue in Celtic's loss to Midtjylland. (Scotsman - subscription required), external

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Callum Osmand "pulled his hamstring" in Celtic's Europa League defeat to Midtjylland, confirmed interim manager Martin O'Neill.

The forward, 19, came off the bench to earn the penalty which Reo Hatate scored to make it 3-1, but minutes later he left the pitch on a stretcher.

"He's pulled a hamstring and that's something that, obviously, has never happened to him before, so he doesn't know" O'Neill said of the teenager who scored his first senior goal in Sunday's League Cup semi-final win over Rangers.

"He was distraught because, the reason being, he was just trying to get his career going, but if everything works out well, he'll recover from that, and then start again, and that's what I've said to him.

"You were starting to get going, this is just a setback for you, but it's not terminal in that sense, and you can fight back, you'll be out for X number of weeks now,.

"It's a shame because he was trying to make an impression. but that's it."

O'Neill confirmed Arne Engels "also felt his hamstring".

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Celtic interim manager Martin O'Neill: "It was a tough evening. There's no question about it. We were well in the game for half an hour.

"We conceded two goals within a minute or 90 seconds of each other. The game goes away from you very, very quickly. They score a third after seven minutes and it's a long way back.

"In terms of European football, they're a very fine side. There's no question about it. They're strong, physically very, very strong. It was something that I knew anyway because of seeing them a couple of weeks ago.

"Disappointing, but I thought that we showed a bit of character in the second half. We could have gone under, it could have been any sort of score, but the players, I thought, pulled themselves together, pulled it round a bit and showed some character and resilience, for want of better words.

"The goals that we conceded weren't good, but eventually that hadn't really much to do with physicality, or certainly two of the goals, in the sense that we'd been left 1v1.

"I suppose I probably always thought this here, that 10 points would probably get you, so you would have to... We're not out of it, but that's a big lesson for us tonight, to know what it takes to be a really decent European team, and Midtjylland have shown that, and they have good experience in the side, they've got really good players, and they have that thing that is necessary, a bit of physicality.

"I think just to play football at the top level, not only do you need ability, but you need mentality and mentality sometimes overrides ability as well.

"I've seen this game where players with lesser talent, but more drive and more determination come through and players who have the talent but don't have that mentality fall by the wayside. It's only a matter of time when those things happen.

"It sounds from here as if I'm like a teacher telling them, but I will try and teach them the game as quickly as possible. Things that they may already know maybe need reminding. Maybe they don't know, and that's part of my job to do that. Well, it's not part of it. It is my job to try and improve the football club. It was tough tonight."

Celtic's momentum under interim boss Martin O'Neill came to a shuddering halt as Europa League leaders Midtjylland taught them a lesson in eight dreadful first-half minutes on a dismal night in Denmark.

Read the match report here.

Have your say here.

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• Midtjylland scored three goals in the first half of a major European game for the first time

• Midtjylland remain unbeaten against Celtic in Europe (W2 D1). Celtic have failed to win any of their last eight games against Danish clubs (including qualifiers – D3 L5).

• Celtic faced 15 shots in the first half of this match, the most they've conceded in the opening 45 minutes of a European game since November 2012 (17 v Benfica in the Champions League).