Celtic injury alarm sounded after late Besiktas heroics as Martin O'Neill left with attacking puzzle to solve

Martin O’Neill has provided an update on Cameron Carter-Vickers’ fitness after revealing the Celtic defender was experiencing tightness in his hamstrings during Thursday night’s Europa League win over Besiktas.

The American centre-back delivered a commanding performance as the Scottish champion secured an important 3-2 victory over the Turkish heavyweights at Parkhead, playing a pivotal role in helping the hosts claim their first three points in the competition’s league phase at the fourth time of asking.

Carter-Vickers made nine timely interventions and won four out of his five individual duels before eventually being substituted in the closing stages. However, O’Neill disclosed after the match that he had been feeling discomfort well before his withdrawal, having reported the problem at the interval.

The Celtic manager explained that he had initially planned to give Carter-Vickers another 15 minutes after half-time, although the changing circumstances of the match influenced his decision to keep him on the pitch for longer than anticipated.

The 74-year-old was particularly pleased with the defender’s response following a difficult performance against Falkirk, where a poor attempted clearance presented Ethan Ross with the opportunity to open the scoring.

“It looked that way,” O’Neill responded when asked whether the USA international had a point to prove after last weekend’s defeat at Falkirk. “I thought he was very strong. He was complaining about his hamstrings being very tight at half-time and I thought we would give him another 15 minutes.

“Of course, the game changed in that time and we were chasing the game from behind. But the lads who came on in the forward positions were always going to come on. James Forrest was never going to last the whole game.

“I thought he was outstanding, an absolute credit to the football club what with he did for us. Even defensively. Everybody worked so hard. It was really pleasing.”

With Celtic now turning their attention to their next domestic assignment at home Kilmarnock this afternoon, Carter-Vickers’ physical condition is likely to be a major talking point.

His hamstring discomfort will need to be assessed, with O’Neill potentially facing a decision over whether to risk the defender or give him additional time to recover amid a hectic fixture schedule.

O’Neill explains attacking dilemma in bid to unlock perfect partnership

Meanwhile, O’Neill stressed the need to strike the right balance positionally between misfiring striker Kasper Høgh and red-hot Camilo Duran during games, ensuring both attackers can complement each other and provide the Hoops with a lethal attacking threat.

”We made five changes on Thursday because it was necessary,” he explained. “The boys who came on were always going to come on after 60 minutes. You can’t just plan things like this. Somebody might pick up an injury. Things change during the course of the game. But the plan before it was for these lads to go on. We were always going to make the changes.”

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