Neil Lennon is full of pride as Celtic fight back

CELTIC manager Neil Lennon last night hailed his team’s 3-1 Europa League win over Rennes as a “miracle” as they shrugged aside an ever-lengthening injury list to push themselves firmly into contention for a place in the last 32 of the tournament.

Already unable to call upon ten first-team squad members before kick-off, Lennon lost captain for the night Glenn Loovens to a recurrence of a thigh injury at half-time which saw 17-year-old Marcus Fraser make his debut in central defence.

The young Scot produced an admirable performance which typified the overall resolve of a Celtic side who had to recover from the loss of a second-minute goal to earn their first victory in Group I with two goals from Anthony Stokes and a late strike from substitute Gary Hooper.

It allowed Lennon to bask in some much-needed positivity and also vindicated his assertion earlier this week that his relationship with his players remains strong, despite their domestic form this season, which sees them currently 12 points adrift of SPL leaders Rangers. Celtic will now face second-placed Motherwell, three points ahead of them, at Fir Park on Sunday in a more upbeat frame of mind.

“It was a wonderful team performance tonight,” enthused Lennon. “It was a miracle, really, considering the absentees we had before we started. We had a team full of kids and they all acquitted themselves well. We lost Glenn at half-time, but young Marcus Fraser went on for him and did brilliantly.

“Some players really did their bit for the team tonight. Georgios Samaras and Anthony Stokes were immense, Beram Kayal and Victor Wanyama were amazing in midfield and young Adam Matthews had a stormer at left-back.

“Daniel Majstorovic had a very good second half, winning everything that came his way, and Fraser Forster made important saves when he needed to. We scored a great third goal to make sure of the win and, as a team, they showed great belief in themselves. I’m very proud of them tonight.

“I would never question their commitment to the team or to myself. The only thing I question is their consistency. So we can’t get too complacent after this for the game on Sunday. We have got a lot of tired bodies in there, it was a physically demanding game tonight.

“But the players are feeling good about themselves now and we hope to get it right on Sunday.”

Lennon revealed that the decision to bring on Fraser was influenced by former Hearts manager Stevie Frail, now the coach of the successful Celtic under-19 side.

“We didn’t want to change the shape of the team,” said Lennon, “so we didn’t want to take Wanyama out of midfield, where he was performing so well, and put him to centre-half, which we could have done.

“We also had young Joe Chalmers, another defender, on the bench. So I called Stevie Frail in to discuss it and he felt that Marcus would handle the occasion better.

“He played for us in a friendly against Athletic Bilbao last season, when we was excellent, and he was terrific tonight. Credit to Marcus, and credit to our academy for the players we are producing at the club. To come on and perform as he did speaks volumes.”

Atletico Madrid crushed Udinese 4-0 in the other match last night, leaving Celtic two points behind both of those sides with two rounds of fixtures remaining.

Celtic welcome Atletico to Parkhead on Thursday 30 November before travelling to Italy to face Udinese on Wednesday 15 December.

“We had to win tonight, it puts us in with a chance,” added Lennon.

“If the penalty decision had not gone against us in our previous home game against Udinese, then we would be right up there alongside Atletico at the top of the group.

“We have acquitted ourselves pretty well so far in the group. It’s going to take more of the same against Atletico here in a few weeks.

“There were more than a few glimpses of our best form tonight. We saw what Samaras can bring to the team. I had a chat with him last night and he responded brilliantly.

“Getting Kris Commons back for the last half hour or so was another bonus for us. He has only just returned to training and it was good to get him involved tonight.”

But Lennon still has plenty of selection problems to contend with ahead of Sunday’s crucial domestic assignment in Lanarkshire.

“Loovens is very doubtful,” he said. “He’ll have a scan tomorrow but could be out for a while again. He battled on until half-time for us tonight but could hardly raise a gallop. I think centre-half is a jinxed position for us this season.

“And James Forrest is very fatigued, he could be doubtful for Sunday as well.”