O’Neill will turn 74 when he takes Celtic to Ibrox on Sunday for an Old Firm derby of enormous significance. And he suspects Rohl, at just 36, is showing signs of inexperience ahead of the high noon showdown.
Asked about Rohl’s take on Thursday’s match O’Neill said: “I’ve just heard it. The lads told me in the little TV room. He must have gone for a cup of tea when Daizen Maeda could have made it 2-0 after six minutes.
“It’s quite extraordinary, an extraordinary comment to make, really. We couldn’t go and win the game by playing them? You know, believe it or not, we tried to, we definitely tried to win the game, you know.
“We had another chance late in the game. I know it was only about three or four minutes to go when Seb Tounekti probably could have scored, and that would have been an interesting 180 seconds or something like that.
“But believe me, we tried to win the tie. There was no point in going there and particularly getting the lift that we did so early on, you know.”
Rohl went on to suggest O’Neill faces an “interesting” decision over whether to stick with Viljami Sinisalo in goal at Ibrox – or return under-fire No.1 Kasper Schmeichel to Celtic’s starting XI.
And O’Neill wasn’t happy about that either.
He said: “I also heard that. I’m glad he’s really interested in the make-up of my team, you know. He obviously hasn’t been in Glasgow that long has he?
“It does feel like that. When he’s hopefully been around for the next three or four years he’ll know about it.”
O’Neill has already chalked up one Old Firm win over Rohl after overseeing Celtic’s thrilling League Cup semi-final extra time victory at Hampden in November.
But O’Neill said: “Yeah, listen, that was in the very early proceedings and things have changed since that there. But we did actually beat them and I don’t think I mentioned the make-up of his team at the time.
“He didn’t say it in a jocular fashion, did he? He’s speaking like a fan isn’t he? You know, he is the manager of Rangers.”
O’Neill has just 24 hours to work out his best team for derby day after seeing some of his fringe players thrive in Germany.
And that includes the key decision over Celtic’s keeper.
He said: “I thought Sinisalo did brilliantly last night, really, really well. Iit was good to see and it gives you food for thought at the end of it all.
“It’s really pleasing to see because he’s a genuinely lovely fellow, he wants to do well and wants to be eventually the No.1 keeper here at this football club. That’s his ambition, that’s what he wants to do and he wants to be around for a number of seasons.
“The only way that you really find out about them is to put them in situations like last night and he came through with flying colours.”
Martin O’Neill reminds Danny Rohl he’s Rangers manager not a fan as ‘extraordinary’ Celtic comments touch a nerve
O’Neill was left stunned by his rival’s assessment of Stuttgart win and took exception to Rohl talking about his team selection
22:30, 27 Feb 2026Updated 15:01, 28 Feb 2026
Martin O’Neill branded the comments of rival Danny Rohl as “extraordinary” and insisted the German sounds more like a Rangers fan than a manager.
O’Neill arrived back in Glasgow on Friday afternoon after his side’s 1-0 Europa League win over Stuttgart on Thursday night.
And he was stunned to learn Rohl had accused his side of not going down in that tie with all guns blazing despite getting off to a dream start by scoring in the opening 30 seconds.
O’Neill will turn 74 when he takes Celtic to Ibrox on Sunday for an Old Firm derby of enormous significance. And he suspects Rohl, at just 36, is showing signs of inexperience ahead of the high noon showdown.
Asked about Rohl’s take on Thursday’s match O’Neill said: “I’ve just heard it. The lads told me in the little TV room. He must have gone for a cup of tea when Daizen Maeda could have made it 2-0 after six minutes.
“It’s quite extraordinary, an extraordinary comment to make, really. We couldn’t go and win the game by playing them? You know, believe it or not, we tried to, we definitely tried to win the game, you know.
“We had another chance late in the game. I know it was only about three or four minutes to go when Seb Tounekti probably could have scored, and that would have been an interesting 180 seconds or something like that.
“But believe me, we tried to win the tie. There was no point in going there and particularly getting the lift that we did so early on, you know.”
Rohl went on to suggest O’Neill faces an “interesting” decision over whether to stick with Viljami Sinisalo in goal at Ibrox – or return under-fire No.1 Kasper Schmeichel to Celtic’s starting XI.
And O’Neill wasn’t happy about that either.
He said: “I also heard that. I’m glad he’s really interested in the make-up of my team, you know. He obviously hasn’t been in Glasgow that long has he?
“It does feel like that. When he’s hopefully been around for the next three or four years he’ll know about it.”
O’Neill has already chalked up one Old Firm win over Rohl after overseeing Celtic’s thrilling League Cup semi-final extra time victory at Hampden in November.
But O’Neill said: “Yeah, listen, that was in the very early proceedings and things have changed since that there. But we did actually beat them and I don’t think I mentioned the make-up of his team at the time.
“He didn’t say it in a jocular fashion, did he? He’s speaking like a fan isn’t he? You know, he is the manager of Rangers.”
O’Neill has just 24 hours to work out his best team for derby day after seeing some of his fringe players thrive in Germany.
And that includes the key decision over Celtic’s keeper.
He said: “I thought Sinisalo did brilliantly last night, really, really well. Iit was good to see and it gives you food for thought at the end of it all.
“It’s really pleasing to see because he’s a genuinely lovely fellow, he wants to do well and wants to be eventually the No.1 keeper here at this football club. That’s his ambition, that’s what he wants to do and he wants to be around for a number of seasons.
“The only way that you really find out about them is to put them in situations like last night and he came through with flying colours.”
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