Wary Neil Lennon has Celtic on Swiss watch

There may have been more challenging draws Celtic could have landed in the Uefa Europa League play-off round but the pairing with FC Sion was enough to ring alarm bells in Lennon's mind. The Celtic manager admits he still nurses painful memories of the club's previous European meeting with Swiss opposition when he played in the Martin O'Neill side which suffered a shock Champions League third-qualifying-round exit to Basel.

Even though that 2002 disappointment sparked the considerable consolation of re-directing Celtic into a Uefa Cup campaign which took them to the final in Seville, it left enough of a mark on Lennon to make him react with caution to yesterday's draw.

"It's a tough one," he said. "I'm always very wary of Swiss teams because of what happened to us in 2002. We got caught cold by a very good Basel side who went on to do well in the Champions League group stage. They played very well in the first leg at Celtic Park, scoring early, and even though we hit back to win 3-1, we didn't play as well as we could in Switzerland."

Celtic will face the Swiss Cup holders at home in the first leg on 18 August, despite initially being drawn away. Rangers were also drawn away for their first leg against Maribor and, as both Old Firm clubs cannot play at home on the same night, Celtic, as the club with the lowest Uefa co-efficient ranking of the two, had to switch their tie.

"I'd prefer to be away first," admitted Lennon. "I'd expect Sion to be very fit, athletic and technically good, just as Basel were back in '02. The draw could have been worse, but it could have been better. Sion had a good season last year and have started this one well, winning two out of their first three league games.

"They are an unknown quantity for me, but we will do all the necessary preparation on them. You can't take any team lightly in Europe, as you have already seen this season. It's important for us to reach the group stage."

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Lennon is eager to make a positive impact in Europe this season, having suffered back-to-back eliminations from the Champions League and Europa League against Braga and Utrecht during his first full campaign as Celtic boss. The 4-0 second leg loss to Utrecht in the Europa League play-off round a year ago remains an especially sore point.

"That still hurts," added Lennon. "We didn't do ourselves justice after winning the first leg 2-0. I set the team up to be hard to beat that night but we were easy to beat. So I need to look at it, I need to try and pick the right team.

"It's important for our players to get a taste of European football and it's a chance for me to develop as a manager, (facing] different styles of play and working out how to overcome them."We have to make the adjustment from playing in the SPL, when we more often than not dominate possession, to playing in Europe when we might go long spells without the ball. Utrecht was probably the most disappointing night of last season for me. Maybe I picked the wrong team. I was worried, because we want Celtic to be a European team, a force. We've had it pretty good in Europe over the last decade or so and I'd like to get that back for the current players and, of course, for the fans. I think we are a better team now than we were this time last year."

Celtic return to competitive domestic action tomorrow, after a two-week break which has seen them play four friendly matches, and Lennon is confident his team will be both physically and mentally ready for the SPL assignment against Aberdeen at Pittodrie. "The friendlies were worthwhile and it was a good opportunity to work on a few things tactically and give players game time which they needed," he said. "I think the players will be itching to get back into competitive action now.

"Aberdeen will be well prepared for us and I won't be reading too much into their start to the season. They had a disappointing defeat at St Mirren last week but I actually think St Mirren could be dark horses this season. Pittodrie is always difficult and we need to start well and get a foothold as quickly as we can."