NEIL LENNON says that Celtic’s aim is to win the Europa League, with the manager claiming he won’t be getting excited until his side reach the quarter finals.
Lennon leads his men to Copenhagen this week for the first leg of their last 32 tie, and while he isn’t underestimating the Danish champions, he is confident his team have enough about them to progress to return to Glasgow with a positive result.
Lennon remembers well the excitement that built up around the Celtic side he played in as they reached the UEFA Cup final in 2003, and he thinks that if his team can negotiate the next couple of rounds, then they can start to believe they can go all the way.
“We are in it to win it,” Lennon said. “You want to make your reputation in Europe as well.
“There is so much going on all around us. We can’t take our eye off anything or let our foot slide from the pedal.
“We will have a chat about things before the game and see how we go about it.
“It would be nice [to reach the last 16], yeah. But I wouldn’t be jumping through hoops about it. It’s when you start looking at the quarter finals that you start to get really excited.
“But let’s try to negotiate Copenhagen first and take it from there.
“It’s like the League Cup or one of the domestic cup competitions. The juices really start flowing when you get closer to the final, if you want to get that far ahead.
“That was always the way I looked at it as a player. That’s how I remember the Seville year. We had some cracking ties, and this is another cracking tie as well.
“It’s one for the players to look forward to without the extra pressure of any domestic expectations weighing down on them.”
For all his confidence in his players, Lennon has warned against complacency, with the general view being that Copenhagen were a favourable draw for the Scottish champions.
“I certainly wouldn’t underestimate them,” he said. “Copenhagen have a good pedigree in Europe, but 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.”
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