LENNON HAPPY WITH DRAW

The Celtic manager Neil Lennon has said that he is extremely happy with the outcome of the group stages draw for the Champions League that was recently conducted in Monaco. The draw for the 2012 group stages of the Champions League was recently held in Monaco. Celtic were part of the small group of teams taking part in the draw. It was a very exciting moment for Celtic given that they were taking part in the Champions League once again after a gap of four seasons. There have been suggestions that Neil Lennon would be extremely satisfied with both an easy draw and also a tough draw.

Hence, the manager has said that he is not very disappointed with the probability of facing Barcelona in the group stages. Facing tough teams certainly does not get any better than facing against Barcelona. Apart from this, Celtic also have to contest against the likes of Benfica and Spartak Moscow if they are to come anywhere close to sealing the last 16 spot in the Champions League. The club recently secured a spot in the group stages of the competition after beating the Swedish club Helsingborg 4-0 on aggregate. Celtic, thus become the only Scottish club to be in the Premier European competition.

“We have familiar with all three clubs, we have recent history against all three of those teams. I remember under Gordon (Strachan) we played Barcelona and Benfica and we knocked out Moscow in a play-off. It’s a tough, tough group but all the teams play football so it should be attractive to watch. Let’s not get carried away, let’s see what fixtures are coming up,” said Neil Lennon after the draw for the group stages of the Champions League was announced. Many have already started booking the dates for the match against Barcelona.

NOT THROUGH YET

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.