NEIL LENNON has said that his Celtic side are ready for the European journey to begin ahead of today’s draw. The Scottish Champions will face the winners of Linfield v Drita of Kosovo, Djurgardens of Sweden or KR Reykjavik of Iceland and Lennon is happy with the preparations for the Champions League qualifiers, even if it is not what the club are used to. The manager is hopeful that the draw is kind to Celtic, giving them fixtures at home.
As reported by the Scotsman, the manager of the Champions spoke about the European journey, which will be determined today, hours before Celtic travel to Ayrshire to face Kilmarnock at Rugby Park.
“We’ve had a longer pre-season, although obviously not as many games as we’d normally have had leading into the season, and made a great start domestically.
“With them being one-legged ties the more home ties we can get, the better. With the way things are you don’t know what you’re going into in some other countries but at least if you get a home tie there’s a familiarity with protocols and the environment.”
The manager hopes that by getting a home tie will benefit his side due to the familiarity with the stadium and surface, even if they will kick off the European campaign behind closed doors. Lennon, 48, was also keen
“Ideally, we’d want a home tie but it’s one leg and we have to get it right on the night whether it’s home or away. The fact there’s no crowd negates home advantage a bit but we don’t know who the opposition will be and whether they’ll play on a plastic pitch or what the stadium will be like so it’s about keeping an open mind and being best prepared.
“We’ve got to try and get everything spot on and, if we’re away, getting the travel preparations right and protocols with Covid side of things.”
Elsewhere, it was confirmed that Celtic played the most European matches in the last six years, totalling an enormous 84 games including qualifiers, group stages and knockout matches.
