Lennon refusing to throw in the towel

eil Lennon insists Celtic's Champions League dream is still alive - and hopes Aiden McGeady can turn around their qualifying tie with Braga. Lennon oversaw a miserable 3-0 third qualifying-round first-leg defeat at the AXA Stadium, which left the Hoops' hopes of reaching the lucrative group stage hanging by a thread.The Celtic boss 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 Bhoys won 4-0 at Celtic Park, going down by the narrowest of margins in their second qualifying-round tie."We'll be drawing on that experience," said Lennon, who is banking on an intimidating atmosphere at Parkhead."We'll have a pretty big crowd behind us."Despite his outward show of confidence, 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's omission last night.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 at an end but Lennon revealed afterwards the 24-year-old had been left out after a back problem 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 last night."He's got a year left on his contract and we can't afford to let that run down," said Lennon.Replacement Cha Du-Ri was one of four debutants last night, all of whom failed to impress.Lennon, who was heavily critical of the officiating, 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 a controversial penalty, a goal from 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."It's going to be a tough match," he said."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."

Source: Team_Talk