Celtic Uefa Cup finalist reveals what he really thinks of Jose Mourinho and the task facing Rangers

Neil Lennon believes Barry Ferguson's Rangers have their work cut out as they become the first Scottish side to come up against Jose Mourinho in a competitive fixture since the 2003 Uefa Cup final.

Lennon was in the Celtic midfield that night in Seville as Celtic lost a bad-tempered contest 3-2 in extra-time to Mourinho’s upcoming Porto team.

The Northern Irishman does not hold anything against Mourinho personally and has described him as “a genius, one of the best of all-time” as Rangers prepare to face the Portuguese’s current side Fenerbahce in Istanbul on Thursday in a Europa League last 16 tie.

Celtic manager Neil Lennon (right) shakes hands with Real Madrid counterpart Jose Mourinho as the teams prepare for their glamour friendly match in Philadelphia in August 2012. | SNS Group 0141 221 3602

“Maybe he's not at his best now but I loved him,” he said. “He broke my heart in Seville but when you think what he did with Porto and then into Milan, what he did with Chelsea, what he did with Real Madrid. An incredible manager and a good person as well. Spiky, which I like.

“You miss that sometimes,” he added. “A lot of people don't take to him. If you look at his record, it's incredible. I always remember him finishing second with Man United and saying it's one of my best achievements. Everyone was like, ‘whatever’. If you look at it now, he won the Europa League with them. He won the League Cup. He also got to the final of the League Cup with Spurs and then got sacked. The guy's a winner. He does it by hook or by crook. Sometimes you've got to do that to survive.”

Lennon empathises with Ferguson, who as with him at Celtic in 2010 post-Tony Mowbray has been tasked with steadying the ship at a club where he was a playing legend. “He'll be bitterly disappointed after Saturday (against Motherwell),” said Lennon. “It is an audition for him. I don't know if the board have any sort of realistic thinking that they're going to give him the job but I think losing to Motherwell was a real sore one for him on a personal pride level.

“He's got a big, big couple of games coming up. He's got Fenerbahce and Celtic. That's as good as it gets when you're a Rangers manager but it's going to be a tough task for him.”