Big Bhoys could be back for Anderlecht clash

CELTIC manager Martin O’Neill could have all his big guns back for their next Champions League match, against Anderlecht.

It would be the first time this season that the Celtic manager could call on all of his top senior players after an injury-hit start to the season.

Injuries have left him missing international trio Joos Valgaeren, Johan Mjallby, Stephen Crainey and Ulrik Laursen from his defence.

Paul Lambert, Steve Guppy and Jamie Smith have also been hit by the Parkhead injury curse but all have set their sights on boarding the plane to Brussels in three weeks’ time.

“You always like your major players there, certainly defensively,” said O’Neill.

“You want that little bit of extra experience and a couple of weeks should make a big difference. ”

The next game cannot come quickly enough for Celtic, but O’Neill admitted that victory over Lyon at Parkhead was imperative to their chances of progressing to the knock-out stages.

They are now level on points with the French champions and just a point behind Bayern Munich, who were held by Anderlecht.

Confidence should be high now for their trip to Belgium but the Celtic boss believes that the outcome of Group A will be decided “at the death”.

“I think very probably we had to win,” continued O’Neill.

“Defeat would have been bad for us but a draw wouldn’t have been the end of the world. The group is wide open and it will go right to the death.”

Celtic survived a tough night and Alan Thompson’s penalty miss to sink Lyon with goals from Liam Miller and Chris Sutton.

But O’Neill confessed that he was not confident his defence would keep a clean sheet.

“I always felt we would score,” he admitted. “Whether that would be good enough was another thing.

“I said to the boys at half-time that the game was very open, but I will take my chances in an open game because I thought we had enough firepower to get a goal.

“There is always the possibility of losing one, but after the first-half we were excellent and got two fantastic goals and scored even after missing a penalty.

“But I probably didn’t think that one would be good enough.”

O’Neill also praised the Parkhead crowd and went as far as to claim that the noise was louder than he had ever experienced during his time with the club.

The fans were presented with a UEFA Fair Play award for their behaviour in Seville and again they created a carnival atmosphere which had the manager worried at one stage.

O’Neill joked: “Alan Thompson caught his studs in the ground and there was a long time to go to start giving it the old “Oles”, but it was a night to remember.

“The supporters played their part and with three or four minutes to go there was an incredible crescendo which was as loud as it’s ever been at Celtic. The players also commented on how good it was afterwards.”

Not much shocks O’Neill but a clean bill of health for the first time this season would certainly be a welcome surprise.