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Celtic took a major step towards the Champions League league phase with a commanding 3-0 first-leg play-off win over LASK at Celtic Park, with a goal from Benjamin Nygren and two stunning strikes from summer signing Camilo Durán. On a typically raucous European night, the Hoops survived a couple of early scares before seizing control of the tie, and they now travel to Linz next Tuesday with one foot in the league phase, though manager Martin O’Neill stressed the job is far from done. LASK arrived with a clear plan to cede possession, sit deep and counter, and it almost paid off inside the first minute. Cameron Carter-Vickers was caught out by a ball over the top, Moses Usor raced through and ruthlessly dispatched a finish into the top corner, only for the goal to be ruled out for offside. Celtic looked nervy in those opening moments and LASK looked confident; moments later Carter-Vickers was outpaced again by Samuel Adeniran, and the American striker should have done better than to drag his strike wide. The Austrian champions were content to absorb pressure and hit on the break, and their tactics looked spot-on until they were undone by a moment of brilliance on 26 minutes. After a Kieran Tierney cross was weakly cleared, the ball dropped to Nygren at the edge of the box and the Swede adjusted his body to curl a wonderful strike into the top corner, changing the whole dynamic of the match. LASK thought they had an equaliser soon after when George Bello’s pinpoint cross found Adeniran completely unmarked eight yards out and he bulleted a header past Viljami Sinisalo, but again the offside flag ruled the goal out. Both sides continued to look threatening, and Celtic doubled their lead before the break with a magnificent goal. Another dangerous cross aimed for Kasper Høgh was headed away by the LASK defence, but only as far as Durán at the edge of the box, and the Colombian unleashed an unstoppable rocket of a volley past Lukas Jungwirth to send the home crowd into ecstasy. Celtic increased the tempo after the restart with a Callum McGregor deflected strike crashing back off a post, but while LASK caused further moments of panic at the back, the third goal arrived on 67 minutes courtesy of Durán once again. A smart one-two with Nygren opened up some space in the box for the Colombian to slot home a lovely finish high into the LASK goal to give the Scottish champions some breathing space in the tie and further cement his standing with the Celtic fans following his summer arrival from Qarabağ. LASK hunted for a consolation goal that would breath some life into their chances for the second leg in Linz next week, but Sinisalo dealt with everything that came his way as Celtic preserved a commanding lead to take to Austria. After the match, O’Neill praised his side while acknowledging the quality of the opposition. “I thought it was a really tough evening. We’ve won 3-0 but they are a very, very fine talented team. We’ve got our work cut out still but we’ve given ourselves a chance,” he said. On Durán, he added: “He’s a brilliant player….It was a world class performance by him.” Celtic’s Premiership match away to St Johnstone on Saturday has been postponed to allow more preparation time ahead of the second leg. The sides meet again next Tuesday in Linz, with the winners over the two legs set to join the Champions League league-phase draw on 27 August.