Source: PA
Lennon cites lack of belief following exit
Celtic manager Neil Lennon admitted his team suffered from a lack of belief as they crashed out of the Europa League in emphatic fashion in Utrecht.
Lennon would have been relatively confident of progressing to the group stages after goals from Efrain Juarez and Georgios Samaras in the first leg at Parkhead provided what appeared to be a comfortable advantage ahead of the clash in Holland.
But the Glasgow giants were left reeling when that lead was wiped out in the space of seven devastating minutes as Ricky van Wolfswinkel converted twice from the penalty spot, he then completed his hat-trick early in the second half before substitute Barry Maguire completed the 4-0 rout.
Lennon made the changes he hoped would salvage the tie but could only look on in vain as Celtic's run in Europe ended with a disappointing lack of fight.
"It didn't look like we believed we could get a goal," he said. "We made changes to try and rectify it with Shaun Maloney and Ki Sung-yeung and Paddy McCourt coming on to try and have more attacking flair because the initial formation obviously didn't work.
"But it didn't matter what sort of personnel we tried to make, it didn't look like we were ever going to score. We didn't put the keeper under any pressure whatsoever."
