Neil Lennon praised the Rangers alongside his own side for their achievement in once again reaching the Group stages of the Europa League while is former Celtic team-mate Chris Sutton decided to have a pop at the Ibrox players for what he regarded as their embarrassing and over the top dressing room celebrations on Thursday night after their Play-off win against the 6th best team in Turkey.
This is what the former Celtic striker had to say, speaking last night on BT Sport Scottish Football Extra:“Beating the team who finished sixth in the Turkish Super Lig last season?
“It was a good performance and they’ve done well to get to the groups but give me a break, the celebrations are totally over the top. Totally embarrassing.
Sweeeet 😁🇬🇧💙 pic.twitter.com/x01vNAJiPV
— Jo💙 (@Jo67009437) October 1, 2020
“Just imagine McCoist, Hateley, Laudrup, Gazza, celebrating getting through to the Europa League group stage? You’re better than that. Come on. I’m talking about the celebrations, we’ve all seen them. It’s embarrassing. How low is the bar?”
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The Celtic manager though was looking at the respective qualifications for the Europa League Groups states differently. “It’s fantastic what Celtic and (the) Rangers have done. I feel we deserve a lot of credit. I think over the last couple of years both clubs have done very well and raised the bar,” the Celtic manager said, as reported by Scottish Sun.
“We want to be at the forefront of that again. We had a great group stage last year, so we’re hoping for more of the same this season. Hopefully we can also get out of the group and take it into the knockout stages after Christmas.
“I really do think Celtic and (the) Rangers deserve credit for what we’re doing for Scottish football. I think it’s very difficult to do what we have. From our point of view, I think it’s our tenth straight group stage qualification — and that’s great.
“I was worried about that before the game. It was a bit of tension for me but I didn’t want that to permeate to the players. They were brilliant.”
On this day in 2007, Celtic beat AC Milan 2-1 in the Champions League. McManus and @ScottyMcD83 with the goals. pic.twitter.com/QsYf9Raodb
— CelticLisboa (@CelticLisboaa) October 2, 2020
On his side’s autumn/winter schedule which is going to be Thursday/Sunday matches pretty much all the way to Christmas with crucial must-win Premiership matches mixed in with the six Europa League group stage matches starting with the visit of AC Milan later this month and of course the not insignificant opportunity to complete last season’s treble with the the delayed Scottish Cup semi-final against Aberdeen at the start of next month. Lennon though is relishing that prospect.
Group games
M1 – 22/10 – Milan (h)
M2 – 29/10 – Lille (a)
M3 – 5/11 – Sparta (h)
M4 – 26/11 – Sparta (a)
M5 – 3/12 – Milan (a)
M6 – 10/12 – Lille (h)Home games 8pm ko, away games 5.55pm ko.
Quietest Euro Draw day ever 👎🏼😡⛔️✈️❌ pic.twitter.com/LTqfin5ga0
— Celtic FC SLO (@CelticFCSLO) October 2, 2020
“It’s going to be Thursday-Sunday games. But that’s what we want. The players want it and I know the fans want it as well.”
Tomorrow he takes his side up to McDiarmid Park to face Callum Davidson’s St Johnstone who have had a difficult start to their first season without Tommy Wright leading the way. The Celtic boss though is wary of the threat posed by the Saints.
“It’s a very quick turnaround for us. St Johnstone are in a transitional period after Tommy Wright was there for so long and had done a great job. Callum will want to put his own stamp on things. We’re under no illusions, it’s going to be a tough game. They’ll be fighting for every yard.”
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