Athens agony fuels Scott Brown’s desire to reach group stage

Celtic trained at Lennoxtown before leaving for Sarajevo. Picture: Paul Devlin/SNS

The Scottish champions were knocked out in the third qualifying round by a limited Greek side after a 1-1 draw at Parkhead was followed up by a 2-1 defeat in the return game.

Celtic had to settle for a place in the Europa League through the play-off, reaching the last 32 before losing out to  Spanish outfit Valencia.

Neil Lennon’s side, who completed the domestic treble- treble in May, begin their quest to make the group  stages of European club  football’s elite competition this season with a tie against Sarajevo, with the first leg of the first qualifier taking place at the Asim Ferhatovic Hase  stadium tonight.

Brown, 34, speaking at  Celtic’s hotel in Bosnia and Herzegovina, recalled the  disappointment of last year and how it will, he hopes,  energise the side in their efforts.

“What happened in Athens last year was hard to take for everyone,” said the midfielder. “We thought we were the better team over two legs but we just couldn’t get the ball in the back of the net.

“We played some great  football and were just unlucky with a few injuries as well, a couple of the lads couldn’t quite make the game.

“It is always on the back of your mind. We just couldn’t get it over the line.

“That’s the things that drive us on to try to get into the Champions League. It’s huge for me. You want to play against the best players and best clubs in the world.

“That’s why I signed for  Celtic, to play in these kinds of competitions. It’s huge in terms of money, sponsorship and putting ourselves out there for people to see what a top-quality team and club we are, but we need to make sure we are there in the first place.

“A lot of the players come to Celtic because they see  Champions League nights like when we were playing Man City and PSG, and we want that atmosphere again at  Celtic Park. We want to be in the Champions League and we think this club deserves to be in the Champions League, so we need to make sure we make the club proud.”

Meanwhile, the last time Lennon took Celtic into the Champions League group stages was in his first spell as manager in 2013 and it took a stoppage goal from James Forrest against Shakhter Karagandy for a 3-0 win to overcome the 2-0 first leg defeat.

“I would love that,” said the former Celtic captain. “Qualifying for the Champions League is almost as good as winning a trophy, as far as I am concerned, for what it brings to the club. But we are a long way off from that. This is the first step, hopefully, to achieving that.

“We have a lot of hard work and we might need a little bit of luck along the way. It is a dangerous tie for Celtic. We will not take anything for granted.

“Sarajevo are the champions of their country and are to be respected.”