Six Goals in Six Games, and Celtic Champions League Beckons

A Celtic Champions League return moved a long way closer on Wednesday night, when the Scottish champions pulled LASK apart 3-0 at Celtic Park in the first leg of their play-off. The scoreline was comfortable enough. The performance behind it was sharper still, and one summer signing was responsible for most of the damage.

Camilo Duran, the Colombian winger who joined from Qarabag this summer, scored twice and was plainly the best player on the pitch. He has now scored six goals in his last six Champions League fixtures, qualifying rounds included. Against LASK he had six shots and completed six dribbles, more than any other player on the night.

This is worth far more than one good evening in the east end of Glasgow. Sky Sports values a place in the league phase at somewhere near £40m to Celtic once prize money, UEFA's other distributions and four extra home matches are counted. Fall short next Tuesday and it's the Europa League instead — decent, but worth a fraction of that.

How Celtic Pulled LASK Apart

Benjamin Nygren opened the scoring just before the half-hour with a curled left-footed strike into the top corner. Duran doubled it shortly before the interval, meeting the ball on the volley from around 20 yards. His second, just past the hour, was the calmest finish of the three, applied at the end of a move Celtic worked from their own half. Martin O'Neill called it "a world-class performance, taking people on and getting back".

Why the Tie Isn't Finished Yet

Three goals up after 90 minutes sounds like a formality. O'Neill did not treat it as one, and there were good reasons on the pitch for that caution as well as in the recent history of the club.

LASK Had 20 Shots and Two Goals Chalked Off

The Austrians were nowhere near as poor as the scoreline suggests. They registered 20 attempts and an expected-goals figure of 1.75, and had two efforts wiped out by the offside flag — Moses Usor inside the opening minute, Samuel Adeniran roughly 10 minutes before the break. Celtic's clean sheet was earned, but it was not the untroubled evening the result implies.

The Kairat Almaty Lesson From Last August

Twelve months ago Celtic reached exactly this stage and lost it, beaten on penalties by Kairat Almaty of Kazakhstan after two legs failed to separate them. The shootout finished 3-2. Kairat went on to finish bottom of the league phase without winning a match and still collected a sum that dwarfs anything available in Scottish domestic football. That is the outcome hanging over Tuesday night.

What the Celtic Champions League Prize Is Worth

Roughly £16m of the total is automatic prize money, according to Sky Sports, with the rest coming from UEFA's coefficient and market-pool payments plus gate receipts. For scale, last season every club in the league phase banked a flat €18.62m before a ball was kicked, with €2.1m for each win on top. Qualification also changes what Celtic can offer players in January, which may matter more than the cash.

£30m Spent, Five Familiar Names Gone

Celtic have committed more than £30m this summer on Kasper Hogh, Duran, Hasseim Hassan and Mika Baur. Going the other way were Arne Engels to West Ham, Daizen Maeda, Kasper Schmeichel, Kelechi Iheanacho and Marcelo Saracchi. O'Neill made no secret of his frustration over Engels, who asked to sit the qualifier out rather than risk injury before his move, and who could not be replaced in time. On Wednesday's evidence, the money spent on Duran already looks well judged.

What to Watch in Linz on Tuesday

The second leg is in Austria on 26 August. There are no away goals any more, so LASK simply need three without reply to force extra time — and their route to that is an early one. Concede inside 20 minutes and a stadium that has seen Celtic wobble in Europe before will believe. Keep the first half quiet and the tie is effectively done.

Only halfway there but fantastic performance. We have to finish it off next week.

That was captain Callum McGregor, and it is the right note. O'Neill went further in the days around the game, arguing that Celtic should still aspire to actually win the competition, with 1967 as the yardstick. That's a conversation for another season. For now, watch the opening 20 minutes in Linz and watch whether Duran starts — on current form, he is the difference between a nervous night and a routine one.