Bhoys must focus on action at home, warns O’Neill

CELTIC manager Martin O’Neill has told his UEFA Cup heroes that nothing less than a win against Rangers will be good enough tomorrow.

The Hoops boss was still elated just hours after returning from Portugal, where his players sensationally defeated Boavista to progress to the UEFA Cup final.

Now Celtic must put all thoughts of European football to the back of their minds until they meet Porto in Seville on May 21 as they attempt to put a dent in Rangers' challenge for the Bank of Scotland Premier League championship.

Alex McLeish's men sit eight points clear at the top of the league, although the Hoops still have a game in hand, and O'Neill admits his side will have little chance of holding onto the title this season if Celtic fail to take all three points at Ibrox tomorrow.

He said: "We have to win the game because of the points we dropped against Hearts and Dundee.

"Rangers still have to go to both of those places, which will be very difficult, but I would say that a draw is of no use to us now."

O'Neill was vehemently opposed to playing Rangers so soon after their trip to Portugal and he knows his players will be weary following their exertions against Boavista. He added: "Regardless of how the players are feeling, they have to get on with it.

"There are a couple of players who aren't feeling the best in terms of injury, but they feel good within themselves and we'll just have to wait and see how they are shaping up.

"The rest of the players will have to be ready there is nothing else for it because it is a big, big game.

"The adrenalin, as much as anything else, will see us through it "Can you imagine going to Ibrox if we had lost that game? I don't think Boavista were the best team in the tournament and we would have been disappointed if we hadn't got past them."

O'Neill admits he cannot bring himself to watch the entire nerve-wracking 90 minutes again, but he paid tribute to his players for getting this far.

He said: "It still hasn't sunk in yet and I'm getting too long in the tooth to take these things in my stride, but it has been really terrific."