Martin O’Neill has warned Celtic that Thursday night’s Europa League clash with Celta Vigo has become a game they “need to win” after losing their opening two league phase matches.

The Hoops go into the Celtic Park fixture still without a point in Europe this season after defeats to Ferencvaros and Benfica.

Our Celtic manager page covers his record and background.

But O’Neill knows the European picture is different.

Celtic have already left themselves with work to do after losing 3-1 at home to Ferencvaros before Thursday night’s 4-1 defeat away to Benfica.

The manager believes the campaign can still be turned around, but he made clear that Celta Vigo is now the match Celtic have to take something from.

Speaking after the Hearts win, O’Neill said:  (TCW),“Yeah, it is a big match for us now. Really big game for us because we need to win it. We need to win, really.

“We need to get some points on the board and this will give us confidence to go in.”

The Hearts result was exactly the response O’Neill needed after Lisbon. His big attacking calls worked, Camilo Durán looked sharp through the middle, Callum Osmand scored twice on his first start, and Benjamin Nygren also helped himself to a double.

But none of that changes the Europa League table.

Celta Vigo now come to Glasgow with Celtic needing to build momentum quickly.

O’Neill added: “When you look ahead to Thursday night, do you feel the Europa League campaign is salvageable?

“Oh, I do. I do.

“And I know I said this back when I left the interview room on Thursday night. What’s he talking about? I do think this. I think that that’s the case.

“But we need to win. We need to win the game because it’s a home game. We have to try and win.

“We lost ground, not so much against the Benfica game, but we lost ground in the Ferencvaros game. So we’ve got to win. And if we can win, that will definitely give us a big lift.

“If we don’t, that’s three games gone. It’s a long way back from there.”

The Irishman may also have to make changes, with the fixtures piling up and Sunday’s win taking plenty out of the squad.

Callum Osmand was taken off at half-time with a hamstring issue, while Yang Hyun-jun and Cameron Carter-Vickers are not expected to be ready for Celta Vigo.

Still, Celtic have given themselves something to carry into Thursday.

The confidence from a seven-goal win is one thing. Turning it into European points is now the real test.