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A stunning double from the summer signing Camilo Durán helped Celtic open up a commanding lead against Lask in their Champions League playoff. Benjamin Nygren also produced a superb finish to send Martin O’Neill’s side on their way to a 3-0 first-leg win over their Austrian opponents in Glasgow.The visitors had two goals disallowed for offside and created chances throughout in an open encounter but Celtic were clinical as they continued their strong start to the season. Nygren has been at the heart of it with four goals and four assists in as many games and he opened the scoring in the 26th minute. The Swede readjusted his body to volley into the top corner from 20 yards after a weak clearance from Kieran Tierney’s cross.Durán scored an almost identical goal 12 minutes later, firing into the same top corner from the same spot after Tierney’s cross was headed out. The only major difference was the Colombian struck his volley first time.The former Qarabag forward netted his third Celtic goal midway through the second half, exchanging passes with Nygren after a flick from another summer signing, Kasper Høgh, and stroking the ball into the top corner from inside the box.O’Neill said of his double goalscorer: “He was exceptional. Really exceptional. He’s been fantastic for us since he’s arrived at the football club. His goals were terrific, his play was great. His running back, helping full-backs, helping Colby [Donovan] out on a number of occasions. It was just a magnificent performance.“And if he stays clear of injury, he’s going to be a really, really good player. Whatever we paid for Durán, I think he has paid his ticket by now. I don’t think it was an awful lot of money when you consider some of the fees that they’re talking about for the Premier League.“I think he’s a real bargain – £4.5m or something like that there. The centre-forward [Hogh] has given us a bit of presence there, which I don’t think we had last year, despite Daizen [Maeda] probably winning the league for us single-handedly. It’s nice to have that.”The victory puts Celtic firmly in the driving seat before the second leg in Linz next Tuesday and eased nerves among home fans after more transfer tribulations.Celtic went out at this stage last year, drawing a blank against Kairat Almaty after failing to sign a proven striker. The arrival of Durán and Høgh solved that problem but other signings were slow to come and the German midfielder Mika Baur was handed a start in his Celtic Park debut.The 22-year-old’s inclusion was necessitated by the departure of Arne Engels to West Ham at the weekend, which caused more anxiety among Celtic fans who have seen their team fail in their last five Champions League qualifying campaigns. The playoff defeat against the Kazakhstan side followed losses in earlier rounds against AEK Athens, Cluj, Ferencvaros and Midtjylland in recent seasons.The Celtic fans were in full voice in the buildup but there were early worries. Moses Usor sent a brilliant volley into the top corner inside 30 seconds but was flagged offside, before Samuel Adeniran scuffed a shot wide when clean through.The Lask forward soon forced a save from Viljami Sinisalo with Celtic looking very open in central midfield without Engels, but Durán threatened twice from half-chances before Nygren opened the scoring.Lask had a headed goal chalked off for offside before Durán struck his first and Sinisalo made another couple of saves before the break.The Celtic captain, Callum McGregor, fired a deflected 20-yard shot off the inside of a post as chances kept coming in the second half, and Usor squandered two excellent opportunities.Reo Hatate came on to huge acclaim in what could be one of his final Celtic Park appearances before Durán came close twice from long range before his second goal of the night.The goal hero got another massive cheer for sprinting back to his own byline to make a challenge and Sinisalo continued to look assured as Celtic maintained their clean sheet.

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There will be some familiar faces involved in this week’s European qualifiers as a number of smaller clubs have a chance to make their markFenerbahce v Lyon, Tuesday 8pm Romelu Lukaku is the latest familiar face to rock up at Fenerbahce. The 33-year-old striker is, however, unlikely to be fit for Lyon’s visit to Istanbul on Tuesday – he sat out Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Genclerbirligi, the club his father played for in the 1990s. “This beautiful country is a second home to me,” Lukaku, who spent part of his childhood in Turkey, said last week. Fenerbahce have also added Mason Greenwood and Nathan Aké to a squad that includes Ederson, N’Golo Kanté and Marco Asensio. Failure to get past Lyon, who are aiming to qualify for the Champions League for the first time since reaching the semi-finals in 2019-20, would not be the best start to Ismail Kartal’s fourth spell as head coach.Celtic v LASK, Wednesday 8pmEven before seeing Rangers and Hearts suffer damaging qualifying defeats this summer, Celtic would have needed no reminding of how much jeopardy these ties contain. Kairat Almaty dumped Brendan Rodgers’ side out at this stage last season on penalties after two goalless draws. “They are big games in every aspect … prestige, finance,” said Martin O’Neill, who will have grim memories of his own defeat to Basel in the playoffs 24 years ago. In both legs against LASK, the Austrian champions, Celtic will have to do without Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain as the midfielder serves a three-match ban for a red card he received playing for Besiktas in the Conference League in 2023.Trabzonspor v Ferencvaros, Thursday 6pmMohamed Salah could make his home debut for Trabzonspor when they take on Ferencvaros in Turkey. The former Liverpool forward came off the bench – along with Cape Verde’s Sidny Lopes Cabral – in the second half of Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Kasimpasa. Ferencvaros will not be overawed by the occasion, with a glamour friendly against Real Madrid in Budapest part of their pre-season preparations. Among the ranks of last season’s Hungarian Cup winners, who replaced Robbie Keane with Balazs Borbely in the dugout this summer, is Salah’s former Liverpool teammate Naby Keïta. They have been to Serbia, the Netherlands and Poland in three rounds of Europa League qualifying so far.Egnatia v Lillestrøm, Thursday 6pmHans Erik Ødegaard, father of Arsenal’s Premier League-winning captain Martin, has been working miracles in his two years in charge of Lillestrøm. After being appointed head coach following the Norwegian side’s relegation in 2024, he oversaw their immediate return to the top flight unbeaten and won the Norwegian Cup in the process. Ødegaard, who coached in Real Madrid’s academy after his son’s move there in 2015, will lead Lillestrøm into their first European main draw since the Uefa Cup in 2000-01 as defeat would still guarantee them a Conference League place. Egnatia are the Albanian champions from the past three years and overturned a 3-1 deficit to Shamrock Rovers in the previous round.Tromsø v Brighton, Thursday 6pmSussex is officially in drought but Brighton supporters will have to dig out their coats if they are making the trip to Europe’s most northern football club. It is forecast to be 13C and raining by the time Fabian Hürzeler’s side kick off in Tromsø, situated over 200 miles into the Arctic Circle. Jørgen Vik’s team have dropped down from Europa League qualifying but are looking to make the most of home advantage against Premier League opposition. “Facing our style of play on artificial turf could potentially come as a shock to them,” said Vik. Tromsø and Lillestrøm are two of five Eliteserien teams involved in European playoffs this week. “There is a great deal of confidence in Norwegian football right now,” said Vik.Drita v Inter Club d’Escaldes, Thursday 7pmSince winning their first Andorran league title in 2020, Inter Club d’Escaldes, who wear black and blue stripes like the Italian Inter, have fallen short in six European qualifying campaigns, but this is the first time they have been one round away. Inter are coached by Felip Ortiz, a former goalkeeper who shared a flat with Carles Puyol when they were teenagers at Barcelona, and they will be no pushovers having put six without reply past Flora Tallinn in the previous round. Drita, the reigning champions of Kosovo who reached the knockout stage of last season’s Conference League, stand in Inter’s way of making history.