Neil Lennon brand Juventus ‘cheats’

Published on 17/02/2013 01:39

NEIL Lennon has stepped up his attack on Juventus’ strong-arm tactics in Tuesday’s Champions League clash by accusing the Italians of “cheating”.

Responding to a column in an English newspaper which claimed the Scots were turning into “softies” over their complaints about Juve’s muscular approach to marking at corners, Lennon replied: “It is absolute nonsense – absolute nonsense. I heard someone else saying it is part of the game. It is not, I am sorry. That is not part of the game. That is not marking. That is cheating. That is gaining an advantage. That is preventing a player moving. It is obstruction. It is foul.”

Lennon plans to write to UEFA to seek clarification on the matter and will enclose a DVD of the game.

“I am not trying to embarrass UEFA,” he said. “All I am looking for is clarification so if we are playing in Europe again or we got to Turin in three weeks time, are we allowed to do that? If we are then we will do that.” Lennon, meanwhile, has defended his use of Twitter but admits his wife has been upset by some of the abuse he has taken. The Celtic manager used the forum to reply to critics in the wake of the Juve defeat.

He said: “It is something I like doing sometimes, for the club, the supporters and a few charities. You get a bit of banter on it sometimes which is a bit extreme and she gets a bit upset about it sometimes and takes it upon herself sometimes to fire a broadside back. It is not really important in the big scheme of things.”