Agathe’s better than expected recovery good news for O’Neill
The French winger lasted just 32 minutes of Saturday's 1-0 Scottish Premier League win over Rangers after sustaining what appeared to be a hamstring injury.
But the Celtic boss was more optimistic yesterday of Agathe recovering in time for the first leg of the UEFA Cup tie.
"He is improving today which is good news," said O'Neill. "We'll take it a day at a time and if he can't make the run of fixtures that we have then we can't do anything about that.
"If he continues to make the same sort of recovery that he is at the minute then I'll be delighted. It is better than we hoped, but as of yet we have no idea how long he will be out for."
O'Neill immediately feared the worst, but it will be tomorrow before the medical staff can ascertain the full extent of the injury.
Agathe has been a key player in the European fixtures this season and the Hoops boss will be desperate for the 27-year-old to recover in time for the quarter-final clash against Liverpool.
O'Neill has already switched his attentions to the English side just hours after moving three points behind arch-rivals Rangers in the SPL.
He believes Liverpool suffered after missing out on the Champions League, but insists Gerard Houllier's men will not be weakened by injuries to Emile Heskey and Stephane Henchoz.
"The club are supposed to be in turmoil," joked O'Neill. "They started the season brilliantly and, after 12 games, they looked as though they were running away with things.
"They are good enough to go all the way in the UEFA Cup and all the disappointments have now been put to one side having beaten Manchester United in the Worthington Cup final.
"They have now got a trophy in the cabinet and whether Henchoz or Heskey play or not they still have pretty decent replacements."
Celtic, chasing four trophies, are on a high after starting a gruelling 12-day period with a win. Captain Paul
Lambert claimed the three points against Rangers were vital for their championship hopes, saying:
"We had to get a result and, after being unlucky in our last few games against them, we deserved the three points."
"Now we've got a chance to go on and win the league, and we've got a massive couple of weeks to look forward to."
Celtic face a period away from league action and, as he looked ahead to facing Liverpool twice and Rangers again in the CIS Insurance Cup final, Lambert admitted he and his team-mates need to be at their best if they are to stay on course for four trophies.
"It's great from that point of view," added Lambert.
"We knew it was our last league game for a couple of weeks, and winning it means that we can enjoy our time away from that.
"Confidence is definitely high among the boys, although we know we'll need to be at our very best if we're to do anything over the next few weeks."
Lambert was still smarting from a few of the tastier tackles he fell victim to during a physical Old Firm encounter.
"That's football, isn't it?" he said. "I mean, I could break my leg out there anything could happen to me. But I know that and, if I do break my leg, fine that's part of the game.
"The Old Firm games are tough, we all know that, but I love them."
"I don't know how many I've played in now, but every one's the same. They're terrific occasions to be involved in, and I'm just delighted to have come away with a win."
Neil Lennon believes the way in which they saw off Rangers has given them a psychological boost.
He insisted: "We out-played, out-tackled and out-fought them. It was a great day for us and we deserved it because we forced the issue from the start and the whole way after that. I don't know about a must-win match, but it was a must not lose one."
"Now we've won it, we've put a bit of pressure on Rangers and also given ourselves a bit of a psychological boost.
"I know we haven't had results against them recently, but we've felt our performances have been decent and we knew something was coming."
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