Lennon says Norwegian matchwinner’s season can catch fire after goal in Riga
Celtic manager Neil Lennon is backing Mohamed Elyounoussi to take off following his 90th-minute winner away to FC Riga.
He refused to see the 1-0 win that set up the Scottish champions for a Europa League play-off round tie in Sarajevo next week as streaky, but the Irish man does believe the deliver y of it by the Nor we - gian – who only appeared as an 82nd-minute substitute – could set up the attacker for a hot streak following a period out in the cold.
“Hopefully, that will set his season on fire. He’s a great player and a great boy and I’m delighted with him,” said Lennon of the Southampton loanee. “I can’t speak highly enough of him. We took him out of the team for a couple of games and he’s trained brilliantly over the last week or so.
He took the goal fantastically well and he’s a great example to the rest of the squad. His attitude is great. He’s worked really hard in training and I though the looked good tonight. He was probably unfortunate not to get on a bit earlier. But he’s come up with a really important goal for the team and the club.”
Jeremie Frimpong excelled after replacing the stricken James Forrest in 35 minutes and Lennon said the “b one bruising” that forced Forrest off was“a worry ”. But he claimed he was not fretting over the inability to break down Rig a before El younoussi struck. “Scoring early would’ve made it a bit more comfortable ,” the manager said. “You start thinking about extra time — but I thought we’d get a goal eventually. The timing of the goal was perfect and we’re all delighted to have negotiated a tough place and go into the play-offs.
“It was a big result. We knew going out of Europe was unthinkable. It was another important away win in Europe for us – and now we’ve got another one to negotiate.”