Duran's double fires Celtic to 3-0 first-leg lead over LASK in Champions League play-off

Camilo Duran announced himself as a Celtic hero with two stunning goals as the Scottish champions beat LASK 3-0 in the first leg of their Champions League play-off at Celtic Park on Tuesday, handing Martin O’Neill’s side a commanding advantage ahead of the return fixture in Linz.

The 24-year-old Colombian, signed from Qarabag for around £5.5m in July, first hammered a volley into the top corner to double Celtic’s lead before adding a third with another ferocious strike following a slick team move. Benjamin Nygren had opened the scoring with a superb volley of his own, but it was Duran who dominated the evening and drew lavish praise from his manager.

“He’s a brilliant player,” O’Neill said. “We spotted him way back some time ago and tried to get him earlier than we did, but so pleased to see him here. He’s just magnificent. I said to him, I’m not saying he’s a world-class player, but that was a world-class performance, in every sense. Not only the goals he scored and taking people on, but getting back.”

Duran’s arrival takes on added significance given Celtic sold Arne Engels to West Ham for a Championship record fee of £22m over the weekend. The Colombian had scored five Champions League goals for Qarabag last season and wasted little time in demonstrating why O’Neill pursued him so persistently.

Despite the emphatic scoreline, LASK were far from passive opponents. The Austrian champions twice had the ball in the net in the first half, only to be denied by tight offside calls, and O’Neill was careful not to declare the tie over.

“I thought it was a really tough evening for us, really tough evening,” he said. “We’ve won 3-0 and they are a really good side. They’re a very fine, talented team. So we’ve got our work cut out still, but we’ve given ourselves a chance, let me put it that way.”

O’Neill acknowledged LASK’s bright start had unsettled his side early on. “They scored a goal in the first minute, chalked off for offside. They started so brightly it was untrue and it took us 10-15 minutes to get into our stride. It will probably end up being the same sort of game next week.”

The result carries particular weight given Celtic’s recent record in Champions League qualifying. The Glasgow club crashed out to Kairat Almaty at the play-off stage last season and have lost five of their last qualifying campaigns, falling to AEK Athens, Cluj, Ferencvaros and Midtjylland in previous years. The addition of Duran, alongside record signing Kasper Hogh, has visibly lifted the mood at the club this summer — and Tuesday’s performance offered the clearest evidence yet that this campaign could end differently.