Celtic have confirmed some good news ahead of their Champions League play-off second leg against LASK.
Celtic will be heavy favourites to go through the qualifiers and make it to the Champions League main phase this time around. That is because they won their first leg 3-0 at Parkhead.
Now, to be fair, LASK had plenty of chances on the night. But a combination of good goalkeeping, last-ditch defending and poor finishing meant that a clean sheet remained intact.
It does give Celtic something to think about going into the second leg though. They cannot view the result as a foregone conclusion and will need to show up.
Surprisingly, Auston Trusty missed training right before the match, leading to speculation that he might have picked up an injury. Of course, that would be very bad luck ahead of such an important game.
Celtic confirm good news ahead of LASK test
The mystery around the situation has now been cleared up and we know exactly why Trusty was missing from training, so close to the away matchup against LASK.
Speaking at the pre-match press conference, Martin O'Neill said regarding the status of Trusty:
“He’s travelled. He had an upset stomach this morning. He didn’t train but he’s with us.”
That will be music to the ears of Celtic fans. Of course, this is no guarantee that he will start, or even feature, on the night against LASK.
But at least it is confirmation that he is not dealing with any kind of injury. We can only wish the American centre-back a speedy and complete recovery.
What Celtic need to do against LASK in the second leg
Celtic have already done the difficult part. A brace from Camilo Duran and a goal from Benjamin Nygren were enough to secure a 3-0 win in the first leg.
Now, it is just about finishing the job in the second leg. Ideally, you would always want to win. But even a narrow loss will be enough.
What Celtic need to avoid is getting completely outplayed away from home. One would hope that someone as experienced as O'Neill will know exactly what they should and should not do in order to take care of the second leg and the tie as a whole.
Firstly, just getting anything going forward could be enough to put the tie beyond LASK. One or two goals and the Hoops could breathe easy after that.
Secondly, the defence needs to be tight. Just because Celtic did not concede in the first leg does not mean that they were great defensively. There was definite room for improvement there.
