Coach Neil Lennon has described Celtic’s upcoming Champions League trip to face Benfica on Tuesday as his side’s hardest of the group.
The Celtic manager watched as second half goals from substitute Lassad Nouioui and Charlie Mulgrew handed his side a 2-0 win over Aberdeen at Pittodrie on Saturday and fired them back to the top of the Scottish Premier League but quickly turned his thought to Europe.
The win ended a run of three games without a win in the league for the Hoops, to leave them a point clear of Hibernia, setting them up nicely for the crucial trip to Lisbon.
Lennon’s side defeated Catalan giants Barcelona 2-1 in their last game in the group but the Celtic manager insists the match against Benfica, where a draw could be enough to send Celtic through with a match to spare, will be even tougher.
“This game will be our toughest in the group. We are going to come up against a very motivated team at home,” Lennon said.
“They are very impressive at home and are going well domestically. They got a good result in their last game against Spartak and will be very motivated to beat us.
“We’ll need to match their match their intensity of play. They’ll come for us I’m sure in the first 15 or 20 minutes and we’ll have to meet that head on.
“But it’s a game we are all looking forward to. We’ve got two huge games left in the group and if we can get through midweek with a draw or a win it would be fantastic but there’s a lot of hard work ahead of us.”
Celtic are second behind Barcelona in Group G on seven points, three better off than the Portuguese side, who drew 0-0 in Glasgow on match-day one.
The win against Barca has heightened expectations around the club that the Glasgow giants can qualify for the last 16 of the tournament for the first time since 2008.
“It is an exciting time for the club but I have to temper the expectations,” Lennon said.
“No one would have expected us to beat Barcelona except for the guys in the dressing room. It was a fantastic night but it’s gone – it’s history now.
“I said to the players, I will take you out for a pint in 20 years to talk about it but it’s gone now. We want to qualify and that’s our whole focus from now until Tuesday night.
“I would love us to qualify as it would mean so much to the club and the players will grow from that. And in the last 16 you just never know where it will take you but we’ve got two mammoth games to confront us before that.
“We’re looking ahead to Benfica now and we’ll prepare the best we can for that off the back of what was a very tough game against Aberdeen.”
The Hoops have an extensive injury list and looked to have more worries after Kris Commons and Georgios Samaras limped out of the match at Pittodrie.
But their manager said he expected both to be fine for the trip to Lisbon.
“Kris got a dead leg at the side of his thigh so hopefully with a bit of rest and recovery he should be ok,” Lennon said.
“Samaras just came off because he was fatigued. He’s been out for a while and he’s had a couple of games now and it’s probably done him the world of good for Tuesday.”
Lennon warns of tough Benfica test
