Neil Lennon thinks Celtic’s desire to win everything at home is impeding their chances of success in Europe since they are unable to rest players when needed.
The former Celtic manager acknowledges that he made mistakes while managing in Europe, but he is confident that the team would perform better on the big stage if given the chance to lose league games. However, he believes Brendan Rodgers is the one who can help Celtic break through the competition’s glass ceiling and advance because he believes they have what it takes to succeed in the Champions League and Europa League.
Celtic fans feel they should be doing more to leave their imprint on the grandest platform since they haven’t triumphed in a knockout match in Europe in more than 20 years. Despite the Ibrox club’s domestic struggles, they had to watch as Rangers advanced to the Europa League Final in 2022. Lennon thinks this is part of the issue.
And he mentioned Real Madrid, a team that has only won the league four times in the past 15 years but has dominated in the Champions League. Sevilla is another team that has excelled in the Europa League but hasn’t accomplished much at home.
There is no glass ceiling for Celtic in Europe, according to Lennon. When we lost to Juventus in the knockout round during my tenure as manager, I recall saying the same thing.
“The club will eventually surpass that, and I’ll admit that there were times when I was disappointed,” he said. For instance, in the 2020 matchup with FC Copenhagen, we really ought to have won.
“Celtic’s constant all-out effort in the Premiership and domestic competitions is part of the issue. Teams like Sevilla rest their star players in the league and focus on the Euro competitions because they know they won’t win La Liga.
They were able to win the UEFA Cup and Europa League seven times because of this. Real Madrid has won the European championship a record 14 times, but because the Spanish championship is not as important to them, they have only won it four times in the past 15 years. Many teams will give up their league standings to compete in Europe, but Celtic cannot.
