When The Going Gets Tough…

Neil Lennon Believes That His Players Will Respond With Drive And Determination In Their Europa League Play-Off Against Aik

CELTIC’S immediate European fate will be decided in little over a week as Neil Lennon’s side look to secure a place in the UEFA Europa League group stages.

Time flies in football and, for the Celtic manager, the period of reflection is over. His players must now use the disappointment of missing out on the Champions League as added motivation to secure continued European competition this season.

Last week, Celtic narrowly missed out on a play-off place in the Champions League at the hands of Romanian champions CFR Cluj. The disappointment of the result will likely still be lingering in the minds of supporters, but there will be no empathy from AIK who arrive in Paradise for the Europa League play-off first leg this Thursday (August 22).

The pressure is on for the Scottish Champions to continue their European campaign and Neil Lennon firmly believes his players can use the hurt from last week’s result as added motivation to get the job done against AIK.

They already showed their ability to bounce back at the weekend to defeat Dunfermline 2-1 in the League Cup.

“The players responded brilliantly at the weekend to get the win,” said the Celtic manager. “It wasn’t easy but they got there and that’s important. They weren’t at their best but they showed their winning mentality and they can draw on that in the upcoming games when the going gets tough.”

The Swedish side arrive in Glasgow looking to progress to the group stages of the Europa League for the first time in seven years.

That will only serve to heighten the challenge Celtic face, but the Hoops have had no problem in racking up the goals so far this season and Neil Lennon believes his side can take a positive result into the second leg in Stockholm next week. “We’ve had no issues with our attacking play,” he said.