NEIL LENNON yesterday insisted that Celtic aren’t in the knock-out stages of the Europa League just to make up the numbers. The Celtic manager is dreaming of a run towards the quarter finals and then maybe even beyond that.
Tomorrow evening (kick-off is 5.55pm Celtic Park Time) the round of 32 kicks-off in Copenhagen. Celtic have reached this stage of the competition in both of the lest two seasons, losing the ties to Zenit and Valencia as the unseeded team in those ties.
This time Lenny is in charge – not Brendan Rodgers who despite having a great domestic record really failed to make a mark as a manager in European competition while at Celtic. Lennon knows what it is like to be at the sharp end of a Celtic run deep into a European competition and he fancies another crack at just that this season. That, initially means seeing off Copenhagen.
If you discount the qualifiers, it’s actually been 16 years since Celtic last won a knock-out tie in European football. That, for a club like Celtic is way too long. And you’ll remember the last team we knocked out? Yes, it was Barcelona!
“We are in it to win it. You want to make your reputation in Europe as well,” Lenny said to the Media as reported by Scottish Sun. “There’s so much going on around us, we can’t take our eye off anything or let our foot slide from the pedal.
“But we will have a chat about things before the game and see how we go about it.”
The Celtic manager played the last time Celtic were in Copenhagen on Champions League duties, it was one of those dead rubber games for the Hoops as we’d beaten Manchester Utd to qualify, and lost 3-1.
Accordingly he won’t be taking the threat from tomorrow’s opposition lightly. “I certainly wouldn’t underestimate them.
“Copenhagen have a good pedigree in Europe, be it the Champions League or the Uefa or Europa competitions.
“They have produced some very good players over the years, so we are not taking the game lightly for sure,” Lenny said.
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