![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/0_JS393869181.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe Czech could make his Hoops debut in Sunday’s title shootout at Tynecastle but will likely be the only new face<\/p>\n
21:06, 22 Jan 2026Updated 21:07, 22 Jan 2026<\/p>\n
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Celtic’s head coach Martin O’Neill gives instructions to his players(Image: )<\/p>\n
Martin O\u2019Neill insists Celtic<\/a> got a raw deal from the ref in Italy as he hailed his Hoops for keeping their Europa League dream alive, writes Michael Gannon in Bologna.<\/p>\n The Parkhead men will blast into the knockout stages with a win against Utrecht in Glasgow next week after a batting 2-2 draw in Bologna.<\/p>\n O’Neill<\/a>\u2019s side had to fight with 10 men for an hour after Reo Hatate<\/a> sent packing for yellow cards inside three minutes after grabbing an early opener.<\/p>\n Auston Trusty pinched a second before the break but Bologna fought back in the second period and Celts had to hang tough to secure the point.<\/p>\n O\u2019Neill said: \u201cThe effort the team put in, the spirit they showed, the willingness to get blocks on, to defend the penalty blocks in the manner in which they did. I thought it was really, really splendid.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously the sending off was a major effect on the game. I thought that we played brilliantly, got the goal and had a really decent outfit, played some really great stuff.<\/p>\n \u201cI’ve seen the sending off back, I must admit maybe he was caught in the lads toe or foot at the end of the ball.<\/p>\n \u201cMaybe we should have been a bit more careful, but overall I thought it was pretty harsh really.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd of course it was obviously in the back foot, which is the way we spend all of the second half defending.<\/p>\n \u201cBut what we’ve done tonight, I think we’ve given ourselves a chance. That’s all, a chance of qualifying to get three. And from that point of view, I’m delighted.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought at one stage, my own view is that if we had stayed with 11 men, I think we would have won the game.\u201d<\/p>\n O\u2019Neill revealed Hatate held his hands up for the red card shocker but the manager was adamant Bologna could also have had a man sent off for a challenge on Daizen Maeda.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cReo said at half time and he was waiting for me at the end of the game.<\/p>\n \u201cI think you have to be a bit careful. It looked as if even the ball was going out of play towards me at the time.<\/p>\n “I felt that the referee just couldn’t wait to get the other card out at the time.<\/p>\n \u201cI did apologise to the fourth official a couple of times. In fairness, I think he should have apologised to me.<\/p>\n \u201cHad Daizen gone down in the one where he’s last man, I think the referee would have been no alternative but to send their player off. And that would have been interesting. But he didn’t. Daizen tried to stay in his feet. And as a consequence, the move was finished. But that would have been really interesting.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a good point given the circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n O\u2019Neill\u2019s backline was breached after the break but he was delighted with the rearguard heroics \u2013 with Trusty the standout.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cHe was magnificent. He was absolutely magnificent. As he has been in my time here, and I’m sure before that, I couldn’t give him any higher praise than the performance he put in tonight. He was absolutely magnificent.<\/p>\n \u201cWith Liam Scales, they have been really, really great as a defensive two for me during the time that I’ve been here. And my expectation of them is actually quite high.<\/p>\n \u201cTrusty epitomised the spirit tonight of the team. It was colossal, really colossal. And it keeps us in the competition at least for one more week.\u201d<\/p>\n Tomas Cvancara is now a Celtic player(Image: )<\/p>\n O\u2019Neill will have new striker Tomas Cvancara on board for Sunday\u2019s Premiership showdown with Hearts \u2013 but he\u2019s not expecting any more new arrivals to check in ahead of Tynecastle.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cI don’t know about expecting anybody else for the weekend. But we will try and get a few other players in.<\/p>\n “It might not be for us on Sunday. I’m hoping Tomas does well for us. It would be nice. But am I expecting absolute miracles? Am I expecting him just to transform us? That would be tough on the man.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was a big effort for us tonight. We’ll just have to try and recover as best we can. Sunday’s another day.<\/p>\n \u201cWe’ll just get ourselves right physically, as right as possible. And mentally as strong as we can.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Czech could make his Hoops debut in Sunday’s title shootout at Tynecastle but will likely be the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":385701,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[40166,2817,18667,2600,218,9531,30905,32195,8058,101,145100,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-385700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-auston-trusty","tag-celtic-fc","tag-celtic-transfer-news","tag-europa-league","tag-football","tag-hearts-fc","tag-martin-oneill","tag-reo-hatate","tag-scottish-premiership","tag-sports","tag-tomas-cvancara","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=385700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385700\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/385701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/0_Screenshot-2026-01-22-at-152855.png\")
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