Lennon: we can qualify from group stages

Chief football writer

Friday 31 August 2012

NEIL Lennon threw down the gauntlet to his players last night by telling them a place in the top two of their Champions League group – with Barcelona, Benfica and Spartak Moscow – is "doable".

Neil Lennon joins his squad to watch the Champions League draw yesterday. Picture: SNS

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Michael Grant

Celtic resigned themselves to not being able to land the Italian legend Alessandro del Piero yesterday but were last night close to completing a permanent deal for the 23-year-old Nigerian international defender Efe Ambrose from the Israeli club FC Ashdod.

A near-£6m bid from QPR for Victor Wanyama is understood to have been received and thrown out. But even late activity before the transfer deadline was overshadowed by the excitement of the club's first participation in a Champions League group draw since 2008.The Scottish champions begin their Group G campaign at home to Benfica on September 19 and are then away to Spartak Moscow on October 2. A double-header against Barcelona begins in the Camp Nou on October 23 before Lionel Messi et al come to Parkhead on November 7. Celtic are then away to Benfica on November 20 and finally at home to Spartak Moscow – when former player Aiden McGeady should make an emotional return – on December 5.Lennon was glad to avoid Real Madrid, Manchester City and Ajax in the formidable Group D. "In all my time here I never played against Real Madrid so was sort of hoping they would be one of the teams we got, but looking at their group I'm sort of glad we didn't," he said. "Ours is not the worst group but it's still going to be tough. Barcelona are the ultimate test for any manager and for any team. Maybe a year or two ago they were one of the greatest teams ever, if not the greatest, but they have some of the greatest players in the world and the greatest of all time. In terms of glamour they don't come much bigger than that. I think they are current favourites to win it."Benfica are a really tough, experienced Champions League team, and I think Russian teams are always very dangerous to play and they have an artificial pitch which just confirms how difficult it will be. But it's doable."When asked to clarify what he meant by that, Lennon replied: "Top two. I'm not going to say we are going to do it but it's not beyond the expectations to do that. You would imagine there will be three teams going for second place with Barcelona the outstanding team in the group and clear favourites. We'll just have to see where it takes us."Time will be spent on transfer activity today. Ambrose can play in defence or as a defensive midfielder and Celtic were last night confident a deal was close for an undisclosed fee. Earlier they admitted defeat regarding the 37-year-old del Piero. "We spoke to his advisors but I don't think there is any more mileage in it. It would have been nice. It was a one-off, there's not many of his ilk around. Money was an issue, obviously. I think it appealed to him but I don't think it's going to run any further."

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Lennon: we can qualify from group stages

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