Martin O’Neill has offered a glimpse into his Celtic dressing room speech after their 4-1 defeat to Benfica in the Europa League.

The result leaves O’Neill’s side with zero points after two games and an uphill battle should they progress to the next round, but the 74-year-old remains upbeat that it can be achieved.

Our Celtic manager page covers his record and background.

After the match, O’Neill was asked about the competition for a starting spot up front. Camilo Duran was deployed through the middle for the second 45 in place of the substituted Kasper Hogh, with the Colombian scoring.

Both forwards hit the woodwork in the first half, with Hogh rattling the post from yards away.

It means the Dane has now gone nine games in the Hoops without scoring.

The Celtic boss revealed that he told his players that they need to knuckle down should they remain part of the title fight.

“You know what it is, I think it’s a battle for places. It really should be this”, (The Celtic Way).

“It’s something I’ve just said to the boys in the dressing room, ‘If you want to be part of this, you go and knuckle down, you be a part of it. Because we’ve got a long season ahead, we’ve got a big, big game on Sunday, another match in the league coming up.’

“Honestly, there is a steely determination within the group. It was tough, it was tough the first half today, but we got at them and we felt as if we could have done that a wee bit earlier.”

O’Neill didn’t mention any players specifically, but you could hazard an educated guess that his message was intended for players like Hogh who have struggled to settle in and are misfiring.

O’Neill remained positive after the match, and his “steely determination” line signals a manager who does have trust in his team; or perhaps it’s just for the cameras.

Celtic host Hearts on Sunday in their first meeting since the final-day title win of last season. Wouter Vrancken’s side were in Europa Conference action on Thursday night, drawing 1-1, so both sides may slightly rotate.

It’s almost a certainty that Duran will be the man to lead the line at the weekend. Perhaps a few games featuring off the bench will help Hogh regain his confidence in front of goal?