WHEN Celtic Park is in full voice and the atmosphere is electric there are few places you’d rather be than inside the pocket of the noisiest stadium in Europe.
Isn’t it crazy what happens when you reinvest into your squad ahead of a major tie in Europe?
It’s almost as if every fan under the sun knew that the Hoops would need a massive re-investment. As the saying goes, fail to prepare and prepare to fail.
Despite the late departure of Arne Engels, the Hoops managed to prepare just enough to welcome the Austrian champions to Celtic Park in the hope that they could fatten the already large cat of Celtic’s bank account.
The early part of the game saw the Hoops stunned and there was a real fear that LASK could have found themselves in a two-goal lead after just nine minutes if not for the linesman and a huge sliced effort that drifted wide from Linz’s star-man Adeniran.
Thankfully no more comedic errors would follow, but you know that without that physicality in the middle of the park Celtic did look very open to counter-attacking football and a better team may have taken advantage of the lack of defensive minded midfield presence in the squad.
I say this and I know a large majority will agree, the squad is still four players short of being competent at European level, but Wednesday night Paradise had remnants of its old-self and when Benji Nygren planted a strike into the top-corner to ease the early half nerves it looked to have sparked Celtic into life.
Then came the new Bhoy, Camilo Duran, take a bow son. You’ve earned yourself a spot in Celtic folklore already.
The Colombian forward was signed off the back of a five-goal Champions League tally for Qarabag with hopes he could repeat or better that form of last season, and before I get ahead of myself, his work rate, pace, determination and sharp-shooting makes him a really good asset to have in the forward line.
Kieran Tierney’s cross was flicked back to the edge of the box after the LASK backline man-marked Hogh, before Duran came to collect his long-awaited thunderbolt.
Watching the ball leave his boot with such power and ferocity as it landed in the top corner was the best goal I have seen at Celtic Park since about 11 minutes beforehand.
Mikael Baur has had the fastest introduction to a starting line-up for Celtic this summer, with the German only penning his deal in the late hours of Wednesday evening.
With Oxlaide-Chamberlain suspended and Arne Engels leaving just 48 hours before kick-off, the options that at first glance appeared to be a good headache for Martin O’Neill seemed to evaporate. In step Mika Baur, the term Rolls Royce is often over-used when it comes to name-checking a good performance, but for someone who has had limited pre-season and game time, to come into a game of that magnitude and put in a performance like that was truly awe inspiring to witness.
His delicate flicks, his precise passing and his drive to force turnovers were great, and he did so alongside one of the greatest captains in the club’s history – Callum McGregor.
McGregor shone once again and was the main man driving through the middle and looking five years younger than he did last season, that is probably what happens when the weight of dragging a poor Celtic side through games can do to a man.
The second half was another strong performance, virtually everyone played their part and when Camilo Duran fired home a Puskas worthy strike which began with a terrific Kasper Hogh flick, before the Colombian linked up with Nygren for a delicious one-two, and thumped an effort into the roof of the net.
Kasper Hogh once again proved his weight in gold for Celtic. He probably did not have the chances a centre-forward craves in games of this magnitude, but having a striker who can hold the ball up against three big centre-halves and cause havoc in the nitty-gritty elements of the game is priceless.
He almost bagged a deflected effort too if the upright had not kissed the ball to spin back out from the net. Overall, another stellar performance from the big Dane and he continues to grow in Celtic colours.
A final word goes to Colby Donovan.
You can see the difference between an academy prospect who spends the season starring for Celtic B, and one like Donovan who trains with the first team and makes himself available when the limited first-team minutes come to him.
Donovan was superb, and you could see that the LASK tactical game was to pin the ball down his corner and hope he would struggle and show out of his depth against some very tricky and pacey forwards.
The young fullback stood strong, battled hard and showed a real sense of composure and quality that is a requirement to play with Europe’s elite. Sadly, his departure with eight minutes to go has caused fear of his availability for next week's second leg and would be a massive loss for O’Neill’s side.
The job is far from over, it’s half-time if you will and that means Celtic need to pull off a great performance in Linz next Tuesday to once again feast at the top table in Europe.
A goal will be crucial for the Hoops. Get that and the £40 million can be banked in no time and hopefully reinvested into the playing personnel that is still very much in need of improving.
