Neil Lennon looking forward to Celtic’s return to Europa League action

Celtic manager Neil Lennon feels they are as prepared as they can be for their Europa League clash with FC Copenhagen, despite their opponents’ lack of competitive action.

The Danes returned from a two-month winter break with a 1-0 league defeat by Esbjerg on Friday night but had played four friendly games in the two weeks before that, including Atlantic Cup action in Portugal.

Ahead of Thursday’s last-32 first-leg clash in Denmark, Lennon said on the Celtic website: “It’s great to have European football after Christmas, and it’s a tough draw. It could have been tougher, but it could have been easier.

“We’ve watched Copenhagen a few times. They haven’t played many competitive games of late, but we’ve addressed the preparation as we always do.”

Celtic qualified for the knockout stages with one match to spare.

Lennon said: “You feel the highs and the lows more as manager than you ever did as a player, but you also look forward to these big games, and I was so proud of the group campaign.

“That’s done now, though, and we’ll see where we can go in this tournament. It’s exciting.”