Martin O’Neill spoke to the media in Lisbon this evening ahead of Celtic’s almighty challenge tomorrow night against Benfica in the Europa League. Here’s everything that was said…
Celtic manager Martin O Neill. Celtic FC press conference, Luz Stadium, Lisbon, Portugal – 14 October 2026. Photo Luis Loureiro Shutterstock
Q: Martin, how’s your squad looking ahead of this one? Cameron Carter-Vickers and Camilo Duran were missing from training today?
Martin O’Neill:“Yes, they missed it. Cameron has got a bit of a strain, hamstring strain, so he’s missing. Camilo is hoping to be out here later on, his partner’s having a baby, so he’d obviously want to be there at the birth.
Q: Is that still possible, or do you feel you’re quite confident that he’ll be here?
Martin O’Neill: “It depends on how it goes, I haven’t heard any more news, but if everything goes alright without complications then he’ll come round.
9th September 2026; McDiarmid Park, Scottish Premiership St Johnstone versus Celtic; Auston Trusty of Celtic on the ball. Photograph by Vagelis Georgariou
Q: Auston Trusty back in training today, is he available for selection?
Martin O’Neill: “Yes.”
Q: How are you feeling going into this game, because it’s obviously a big Europa League game, but there’s a big back story with the Celtic supporters coming to Lisbon, which is such a significant city for the club?
Martin O’Neill: “First of all we’re looking forward to the game, it’s a big match for us, it’s great, it’s lovely to be involved. Secondly, you’re right about the history of the football club and its connection to Lisbon, so it’s terrific I must admit, and it’s something I think the football club should be really proud of.”
Q: Hundreds of supporters were at the Estadio Nacional today, I think some queuing for over an hour to get in just to see the stadium, to sort of taste the history of the stadium, is that the type of thing you can hopefully channel going into the game tomorrow?
Martin O’Neill: “I think it’s a separate entity in many aspects, from the viewpoint of this happened by next year, over 60 years ago, and it’s a historical occasion, absolutely fantastic. I think a lot of the boys have seen the stadium from before, so I guess they’re aware of the history, so maybe a combination of both would be lovely.”
Q: How tough a game are you expecting, Benfica got a really good result against AC Milan in the opening match?
Martin O’Neill: “Naturally it will be a bit tough game, but that’s the nature of it. I think I said at the press conference that they’ll be disappointed they’re not in the Champions League, and they’re one of the favourites to win this competition, but we’re really genuinely looking forward to it, it’s a really big test for us, it’s one we want to experience.”
Dodi Lukebakio of SL Benfica celebrates with his team-mates after scoring their team’s first goal during the UEFA Europa League 2026/27 League Phase MD1 match between AC Milan and SL Benfica at Stadio San Siro on September 16, 2026. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)
Q: How prepared and ready do you think the team and your squad are to take on what looks like an extremely strong Benfica side?
Martin O’Neill: “We’re ready to go, I think after Sunday, I thought we played some really fantastic football, and of course a different team, different atmosphere, different stadium, different everything, so it’ll be a tough game, but we’re really looking forward to it.”
Q: Given the Champions League exit, which admittedly you said yourself was a competition you wanted to be in, would you say that Europa League’s playing second fiddle for you this season to the Premiership?
Martin O’Neill: “Well I was asked that question before, I think the Premiership is very, very important for us obviously. But no, while we’re here I don’t know how it was taken when I mentioned this here, no we’re really looking forward to the game, we’re ambitious to try and qualify for the knockout stages of the competition, which is sometime in February, so we’ve got some time to do it, but obviously we didn’t get off to a great start, but the players are looking forward to the games, they want to play, they want to contest European football, so all of those ingredients.”
Jakub Kaminski of SL Benfica celebrates with his team-mates after scoring their team’s second goal during the UEFA Europa League 2026/27 League Phase MD1 match between AC Milan and SL Benfica at Stadio San Siro on September 16, 2026. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)
Q: Do you have any concern that eight European matches in a Thursday could disrupt your Premiership campaign, the way that it won’t for maybe one of your main rivals?
Martin O’Neill: “We had, last season I think it must have been some time in March, we had four games in about ten days or something like that, and it was really hectic and it really took its toll, but we think we’re equipped for it, we think that we’re ready to go, and we want to compete, that’s the most important thing.”
Q: Just another question about Lisbon, someone who’s been connected to Celtic for so long, what does it mean to you personally to bring that team back to a city that holds a very special place in the hearts of Celtic supporters?
Martin O’Neill: “It’s really lovely, I must admit, it’s something to look forward to, I think that just the whole history of it should be, as you mentioned, it should have a galvanising effect for us.”
Benfica manager Marco Silva in action against Hearts during the UEFA Europa League 2026/27 third qualifying round second leg match between Heart Of Midlothian and Benfica at Tynecastle Stadium on August 13, 2026. (Photo by WM Sport Media/Getty Images)
Q: How would you assess Marco Silva’s work over nine years in England, and how different is Benfica’s style comparing to the teams he managed in England?
Martin O’Neill: “Well he has his own style and I think that’s what he would want to do with Benfica. I thought that he did very well with Fulham, in the Premier League, they’re just next door almost to Chelsea, so they’ve always been considered as the lower team in many aspects, so what he did at Fulham was terrific, really terrific. He was at Watford, he was also at Everton as well too, so he’s got a lot of admirers in the British game.”
Q: What kind of difficulties could Benfica create for your team?
Martin O’Neill: “Well they’ve got a lot of good players, playing for a start, but also they been given a great deal of confidence from starting off the competition, winning in Milan, that’s not easy, so they have very good players, but so have we as well too, so we want to try and cause them a few problems ourselves.
11th October 2026; Fir Park, Scottish Premiership, Motherwell versus Celtic; Benjamin Nygren of Celtic celebrates after he shoots and scores to make it 2-0 in the 58th minute. Photo by Vagelis Georgariou
Q: Benfica has faced a Scottish side this season, not a long time ago, Hearts. Have you taken anything from those matches?
Martin O’Neill: “Yeah, we watched the games, yes they played very well here against Hearts, but I don’t think that I can take too much from that, all it was was proving how good a side Benfica are. But if we show the capabilities that we definitely can do, then I think that we can cause problems as well.”
Q: In recent weeks, Celtic switched from their usual 4-3-3 to a back three against Rangers, then back four against Motherwell, which structure do you feel best suits your squad’s characteristics for this game against Benfica?
Martin O’Neill: “Well, we only changed during the course of the game for a little while in the Rangers game, but the football club has had 4-3-3 for quite some considerable time, they’ve had considerable success as well too, but I’ve often said here that if you have to make adjustments during the course of the game, if you feel that some other plan might work, then you should be comfortable enough in doing that, and that’s the whole point, I think if you practise them often enough, I think, and I go back to the people talking about plan A and plan B, if you feel that plan A has not worked, then you should be able to have something else up your sleeve.”
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