The Celtic manager Neil Lennon has said that the club has definitely not booked a place in the group stages of the Champions League, despite the convincing 2-0 win over Helsingborgs. If Celtic do qualify for the Champions League group stages, then it would be their first appearance in the Premier European competition after four years. The 2-0 win over Helsingborgs was only the second victory that the club has achieved away from home in 34 European matches. Despite this, Celtic have now won back-to-back away matches in Europe, which has put them on the brink of qualification to the group stages.
Qualification to the group stages of the Champions League is extremely vital for a club like Celtic according to the manager Neil Lennon. It is estimated that clubs in the group stages will get around £ 30 million in revenue through the Champions League. Even though Celtic are not as much as in debt as Rangers, it is thought that they will be benefiting hugely from this revenue especially at a stage when Rangers are not playing in the top division. Despite this enormous away result, Neil Lennon has asked the Celtic players and fans to keep their feet on the ground.
“A clean sheet and two away goals is more than we could have asked for. It’s a great result for us to take into the second game. But there is still a lot to play for in the tie. There was enough there to worry me. They were impressive. It was a hell of a game. We got off to a dream start but then we took our foot off the pedal. We had to rely on Fraser to make some great saves. You can see why we pursued him so vigorously,” said Neil Lennon after the match.