O’RILEY IS STILL A BELIEVER

First-leg defeat was a setback but midfielder insists resilient Celtic can still find a way past Norwegians

WHEN Matt O’Riley declares that he is ‘not worried’ by the two-goal deficit that threatens Celtic’s European involvement, it’s probably best to believe him. At just 21 years old, the midfielder has an impressive track record of setting ambitious goals — and then taking the unconventional route to get there.

Rather than sit in the queue for a first-team slot at Fulham he rejected a contract and waited patiently as a free agent for six months before signing for English League One side MK Dons.

Eighteen months later, his reward was a move to Celtic where he now covets Champions League football and stands on the brink of an international call-up with Denmark.

More immediately, he is inclined to believe that Celtic still have a future in this season’s Europa Conference League, even in the face of a chastening evening at the hands of Bodo/Glimt. Despite predictions of rustiness after a long off-season, the Norwegians were note perfect in securing a 3-1 win in Glasgow.

Celtic now head to the Arctic Circle to try to overturn that deficit on a plastic pitch but O’Riley applies his own cold logic to the state of play at half-time in the tie.

‘It’s only one game and it’s only two goals difference,’ he says. ‘We have scored enough goals this season to know we can make that deficit up.

‘We are not worried, although obviously disappointed with the result but we can go there, put in a performance and win the game.

‘We said that in the changing room afterwards. We’ll come back out and give it all we’ve got.

‘We have the Dundee game on Sunday, which we have to look forward to. We need to focus on that because we need to win and I’m sure we will do that. There is a real belief in the team and I think the fans believe in us, too.’

By his own admission, O’Riley did not have his best night in Thursday’s first leg at Celtic Park and neither, it has to be said, did his manager, Ange Postecoglou.

Having encouraged his team to believe they could go all the way and win the competition, the Australian’s imbalanced side fell a goal down after seven minutes and had conceded another before he took remedial action from the substitutes’ bench.

The decision to field both O’Riley and Tom Rogic in front of Callum McGregor in midfield flooded the pitch with invention but made it too easy for the opposition to find gaps and muscle their way into the match.

For O’Riley, it was a European debut and another valuable lesson on a steep learning curve that saw him share a pitch with the likes of Gillingham and Accrington Stanley in the first half of the season. ‘It didn’t faze me in that sense, it was just another game,’ he continues. ‘I felt comfortable in the game, we just lacked a bit of quality going forward — myself included. I felt I could have done a few things better but it can’t be perfect every game.

‘They are a good side, but we weren’t at our best. I still don’t think we were at our worst either and we had opportunities to do more than we did.

‘I had a few myself where the final ball could have been better, so it just wasn’t good enough in the final third.

‘We also conceded sloppy goals — but it’s only one game and we have another game to put it right.

‘We knew they were a good side — they beat Roma at home in the group stage and drew in Italy.

‘But I still don’t actually think they were better than us. We just lacked that ruthlessness. It was a fairly even game and we were on top for most of it.’

Although the January window allowed Postecoglou to beef up his squad with the addition of O’Riley and the Japanese trio of Reo Hatate, Daizen Maeda and Yosuke Ideguchi, Thursday’s tie felt like a throwback to some of the team’s wide-open nights in the Europa League group stage.

Fifteen goals were conceded across six fixtures but despite the leakiest defensive record in the competition, Postecoglou’s highrisk strategy also secured nine points and a third place finish that kept the club in Europe into 2022.

Longer-term, the goal is to secure the Premiership title and a place in next season’s Champions League where the prospect of punishment for slackness is certain.

Just as the team remains a work in progress, and the scale and success of the manager’s ongoing rebuild should not be underestimated, so O’Riley acknowledges that he has plenty room for growth in his level of performance if not confidence.

‘I felt I was ready to make this move,’ he says. ‘I know I have come from League One but I took a step back to come forward.

‘I always felt comfortable and I feel I can still play at a high level, hopefully with Celtic in the Champions League. That’s the aim.

‘I’m not surprised in my own performances. I could have done better on Thursday but I don’t think I was awful. There’s always stuff to improve on.’

With the second leg in mind, it’s likely that Postecoglou will make changes for today’s Premiership game against Dundee.

Giorgos Giakoumakis and Reo Hatate — both substitutes in midweek — are likely to come and while O’Riley may be asked to help unlock the visiting defence, it’s unlikely he will play 90 minutes.

‘There are different challenges in each competition,’ he says. ‘Thursday was more open than the games we have been used to. Dundee might sit off a bit more, but we are prepared for all sorts of challenges.’