Not an impossible challenge

Neil Lennon will remind his players he has knows it is possible to win a Champions League return leg by four goals. He will be working hard on preparations for the return game at Parkhead and  plans to involve Aiden McGeady on Braga next week. The team returned from the 3-0 third qualifying-round first-leg defeat at the AXA Stadium with their hopes of reaching the lucrative group stage hanging by a thread. lennon insisted overturning such a deficit was far from impossible, revealing he would mention the victory he played in five years ago that almost witnessed an even greater comeback against Artmedia Bratislava. After infamously losing the first leg 5-0, the return leg saw Celtic win 4-0 at Celtic Park, going down by the narrowest of margins in their second qualifying-round tie. Lennon said: "We'll be drawing on that experience. We'll have a pretty big crowd behind us."

Despite his outward show of bravado, Lennon's first taste of the Champions League from the other side of the touchline appears destined to be a short one. Whether he will be allowed to cup tie McGeady in the process remains to be seen but he claims there was nothing sinister about the winger being left out of the squad for last night’s game. That was despite Lennon having insisted 24 hours earlier that his star midfielder would play unless he was overruled by the club's hierarchy. McGeady's absence fuelled speculation his Parkhead career was over but Lennon revealed afterwards the absence was linked to a back problem which flared up and not because he was on the brink of being sold. Lennon said: "Having spoken to the medical team, with the lack of training and the lack of game time he's had, I thought it best not to risk him. Hopefully, we'll have him for the second leg."

The same cannot be said for Andreas Hinkel, whose days at Celtic look numbered after he was not even registered to play on Wednesday night.  Lennon said: "He's got a year left on his contract and we can't afford to let that run down”. Replacement Cha Du-Ri was one of four debutants last night, all of whom failed to impress. Lennon said: "I thought they were a wee bit nervous. It takes them a bit of time to gel."

Summing up his side's display, which saw them concede goals from a controversial penalty, a corner and a stunning free-kick, Lennon added: "I just thought overall we could've passed the ball better at times. The disappointing thing is the set-pieces we conceded from. We emphasised that quite a lot over the past week or so that they're a very important facet of the game. With 10-15 minutes to go, we were fine, and we conceded two really poor goals." Braga boss Domingos Paciencia agreed with Lennon that next week's second leg was far from a formality.  He said: "It's going to be a tough match. At the end of this match I was reminded of the game Celtic-Benfica, that Celtic won 3-0. We're always prepared for something like this in football."