Neil Lennon accuses Uefa chiefs of ‘unfair’ Champions League set-up

Former Romania international Dan Petrescu and Neil Lennon could find themselves adversaries next month as FC Cluj and Celtic vie for Uefa Champions League qualification but they share common ground over the skewed nature of the competition.

Neil Lennon with young fans at the Celtic Festival at the SEC. Picture: SNS

Cluj will face Celtic in the third qualification round of the Champions League if they prevail against Maccabi Tel Aviv, over whom they currently hold a 1-0 first-leg lead. And Petrescu will find a willing listener in Lennon when it comes to cursing the authorities who have made progress into the group stage of the tournament so prohibitive for teams from smaller leagues.

Former Chelsea star Petrescu said this week: “We fight like a lunatic one year, we become champions and then wake up every two days on planes.”

Lennon’s take was: “I think it’s damaging the game the way it’s now set up. It’s unfair.

“Even three or four years ago, I was at the Uefa convention and teams like Shakhtar Donetsk were making a case that they weren’t getting a fair enough crack of the whip.

“I see Dan Petrescu having a bit of a complaint about that and he’s right. When you are champions of your country you shouldn’t have to play four qualifiers to make the group stage. However, that’s where we are. We’re nearly halfway there although there could be another difficult tie ahead of us.

“It’s the Champions League and we are the champions of Scotland and have been consistently. I was watching a fixture the other day – PSV against Basel. That would grace any Champions League group.

“It’s incredible really. And it’s only going to get tougher. We are aware of the importance but also the difficulty. If we qualify, and it’s still a big if, that’s eight games. That’s a quarter of a season before a ball is really kicked in anger in your domestic campaign.”

Lennon added: “It’s such a difficult thing to do. It’s really difficult to balance it as well with the squad and the league games as well. If you finish fourth in one country, you qualify. I think that’s unfair. No matter how difficult people may say the Premier League is.

“Winning the championship in any domestic league is difficult. People sort of poo-poo what we do. Juventus, Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Real Madrid have all dominated the landscape in their own countries for a long time. Why should we be any different to them and be treated differently?”

Lennon took Celtic into the group stage – and into the last 16 – in his first spell as Celtic manager and also played in the tournament under Martin O’Neill.

Lennon added: “The rewards are great,” he said. “Once you are in there you can really enjoy it and let loose. We’re doing the hard yards at the minute. We’re making good inroads at the minute. It’s been a very good start.”

l Neil Lennon was speaking at the launch of Celtic’s inaugural football festival at the Glasgow SEC which runs until Sunday.