NEIL LENNON is hoping that the Old Firm can continue to fly the flag for Scotland on the European stage to improve the country’s co-efficient, making it easier for them both to reach the Champions League in the future.
The Celtic manager believes the Scottish game was given a huge shot in the arm by his side’s win over Lazio at Celtic Park on Thursday night and Rangers’ earlier draw against Porto in Portugal.
He hopes though that as well as the reputational good those results have done for Scottish football, there can be a tangible reward in the future in terms of reducing the number of qualifiers needed to reach Europe’s premier competition, or even an extra Champions League place once again.
Scotland have the fourth best co-efficient score this season so far, and now sit in 18th place in the overall standings. If the league’s overall score can surpass Greece in 15th place, the nation will have two qualifying slots in the Champions League the season after next for the first time since 2012.
“We’re not getting carried away, but we’re half-way there and both teams are competing really, really well,” Lennon said.
“It would make a huge difference if we could get rid of that first qualifier, it would give me an extra week in Portugal! The four qualifiers are a marathon, and if you can take one away then great, but even three qualifiers is a big ask.
“We know how difficult it is, but we want to get the coefficient up. At the minute though, all I’m thinking about is trying to get through the group and then take it from there. If that bodes well for the coefficient then so be it.
“It’s the gravitas for the club and the country, it’s important.
“We felt as if we had an opportunity to do something in the group, and so far we are prevailing, but there’s a long way to go yet.
“There’s a lot of football to be played. We’ve got to go to Rome now and they will have their backs up. It will be a really tough ask, but it’s one we’re looking forward to.
“Other teams will take points off each other as we go along, but it’s a great start and we’ve won our games at home which is really important.”
Lennon refuses to buy into the notion that the Europa League is the natural level for Scottish clubs, who struggle to complete with the cash-rich elite clubs at the very top of the European game.
And he says it is only a matter of time before Celtic or Rangers will be back mixing it in the knockout stages of the competition as they once were.
“I don’t believe that the Champions League is way beyond any Scottish club,” he said. “In time, we will be there again and challenging, and hopefully breaking the ceiling of the last 16 again.
“I don’t believe for one minute that’s too far away for the Scottish clubs.
“Both teams are in the Europa League at the minute and performing very well. It’s the competition we are in, so we have to maximise what we have in it. We’ve done that before and we’re hoping we can do that again.
“But in terms of the Champions League, I don’t believe that’s way beyond any of the Scottish clubs. I think that will come again.
“If you get to the last round [of the qualifiers] you don’t know what team you are going to get. It’s doable, even with the four [ties] it’s doable.
“I felt against Cluj we could have progressed, but then we could have got Slavia Prague who are a very good team. I watched them against Barcelona the other night and they were very unlucky not to get anything out of the game.”
Lennon hopes that the special atmosphere at the end of their win over Lazio, and the way in which they achieved it, can bring his players even closer together as the new faces become fully integrated into the squad.
And despite the fears prior to the game about the potential for the Lazio support to poison the atmosphere, those concerns proved largely unfounded as Lennon got the celebration of football he had pleaded for prior to the match.
“That’s what we wanted,” he said. “It was a great night.
“It had all the ingredients of those great nights we have had at Celtic Park, and it will be memorable, but we have to back it up now by qualifying.”
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