O'Neill: Hungaria tie has come too soon

Celtic manager Martin O’Neill admits their Champions League qualifier against MTK Hungaria has come too soon for his players.

The Parkhead side take on the Hungarian champions in the first leg of the third qualifying round tomorrow night in Budapest.

Celtic started their European campaign well, romping to a comfortable 4-0 win over Kaunas in Lithuania, which all but secured their progression to meet MTK in the final qualifying round.

But the Hoops players failed to find the back of the net when Kaunas visited Parkhead – Darius Gvildys nodding the ball past his own goalkeeper to hand Celtic a 5-0 aggregate win.

Worse was to follow when O’Neill’s men kicked-off their Bank of Scotland Premier League campaign against Dunfermline with a goalless draw on Saturday - the first time they had failed to score in league competition since December 2001.

They must now find their form in time for the clash with the Hungarians, but O’Neill admits he would have preferred more competitive games under his team’s belt before heading into the tie.

He said: “We have played pre-season games and all of those, except Manchester United, went very well but pre-season games are generally the opposite of how you go at the start of the season.

“My concern is the number of competitive games that we have played. Saturday’s league game at Dunfermline – with all the nerves that come with the first game and the searing heat as well – will have brought the team on as much as anything.

“That’s what I’m hoping anyway because these games are very, very important games.

“I think they come too early for most teams, considering their importance, but you have to be prepared.”

John Hartson, still struggling with a calf strain, was the only Celtic player not to make the flight from Glasgow this morning.

Johan Mjallby and Shaun Maloney are both available for selection, despite experiencing discomfort following Saturday’s game.

Their opponents from the last round, HJK Helsinki, accused Sandor Egervari’s men of using dirty tricks but O’Neill, who watched the last game between the two sides, is expecting a fair game.

He said: “I didn’t see the game that way at all. I saw it as a hard fought game and there were tackles, like every game, that were fouls.

“There has obviously been a bit of reaction from Helsinki with the defeat and they are maybe annoyed that they spurned good chances but the opposition also had chances.

“It should be a tough game and I’m sure there will be physical challenges but, as long as the game is played fairly, that is all you can ask.”

O’Neill added: “We were 4-0 up from the first game against Kaunas so I thought that afforded me the opportunity to go to Finland and see the team for myself.

“It was a tough game but they came through that test to earn the right to play in this game, as did we.

“It will be a very difficult game but I’m hoping nothing will be decided until we play them at Celtic Park.”