Lennon warns his men Danes will not freeze
Neil Lennon has warned his players not to take FC Copenhagen lightly because they’re just coming out of cold storage.
Celtic travel to face the Danish champions in the last-32 of the Europa League on Thursday.
The Hoops would seem perfectly placed to advance towards the next stage.
Their opponents only returned to action on Friday night after a 10-week winter break.
Meanwhile, Celtic have been on top form and have hit 77 league goals – already equalling the total they achieved in 38 games last season.
Their manager, however, remains cautions. He remembers Celtic meeting Zenit St Petersburg in similar circumstances two years ago and crashing out 3-1 on aggregate.
Lennon said: “We can try to catch Copenhagen cold. But whether we do is another thing.
“We played Zenit when they were in the same boat and they were a strong team, too.
“So we won’t take anything for granted. We’ll be as strong as we can against them.
“We’ve had Copenhagen watched. They were on their winter break but played in a tournament over there.
“It will be nice to get back into Europe again, though we’ve been enjoying the domestic stuff. There’s a momentum and a quiet confidence about us.
“We’ll have a full report that we’ll start on from tomorrow and get stuck into. You can’t look too far ahead at the moment when we have so many games.
“The domestic games have been the priority and Aberdeen will be a tough away match today.
“So we’re not getting carried away. There will be peaks and troughs along the way.
“All our focus is on Aberdeen for now.
“The other night the players clearly didn’t want to take their foot off the pedal when we beat Hearts 5-0.
“There have been games like that this season when they’ve been strong and full of running.
“That appetite and desire is sometimes inbuilt in players.
“It comes naturally, you don’t have to coach that.
“Complacency can be your enemy, so it’s important that we’re on top of things.”
Lennon is delighted with the array of attacking talent at his disposal.
He was able to use Ryan Christie, Tom Rogic and Mohamed Elyounoussi as subsitutes against Hearts.
“It’s great having those three creative types to call upon,” said Lennon.
“They’re players who can change a game.
“That was one of the strongest benches I’ve had in my time.
“With Mo, we have to be a bit more mindful as he’s been out a bit longer. But you can see he’s getting up to speed.
“We’ll need the full squad at some point.
“Frimpong is back in training now. Elhamed might take a bit longer because of the length of time he’s been out.”