The Celtic manager Neil Lennon has said that he is extremely happy with the outcome of the group stages draw for the Champions League that was recently conducted in Monaco. The draw for the 2012 group stages of the Champions League was recently held in Monaco. Celtic were part of the small group of teams taking part in the draw. It was a very exciting moment for Celtic given that they were taking part in the Champions League once again after a gap of four seasons. There have been suggestions that Neil Lennon would be extremely satisfied with both an easy draw and also a tough draw.
Hence, the manager has said that he is not very disappointed with the probability of facing Barcelona in the group stages. Facing tough teams certainly does not get any better than facing against Barcelona. Apart from this, Celtic also have to contest against the likes of Benfica and Spartak Moscow if they are to come anywhere close to sealing the last 16 spot in the Champions League. The club recently secured a spot in the group stages of the competition after beating the Swedish club Helsingborg 4-0 on aggregate. Celtic, thus become the only Scottish club to be in the Premier European competition.
“We have familiar with all three clubs, we have recent history against all three of those teams. I remember under Gordon (Strachan) we played Barcelona and Benfica and we knocked out Moscow in a play-off. It’s a tough, tough group but all the teams play football so it should be attractive to watch. Let’s not get carried away, let’s see what fixtures are coming up,” said Neil Lennon after the draw for the group stages of the Champions League was announced. Many have already started booking the dates for the match against Barcelona.