Emotional Forster vindicates Lennon’s desire to bring him in out of the cold and back home to Parkhead

IT may be related to the fact that Fraser Forster is simply busier when the level of opposition goes up a notch, but whatever the reason, the big occasion seems to bring out the best in the big goalkeeper.

So it was when Lazio came calling on Thursday evening, with the former England No.1 playing just as big a part in securing a famous comeback victory as either Ryan Christie in dragging them level, or Christopher Jullien in heading home the late winner.

The whole experience left Forster visibly moved as he tried to take it all in in the aftermath of a frenzied night, but Lennon was certain that it would be these games in which Forster would prove to everyone why his manager brought him back in from the cold of the

Southampton wilderness to the warm embrace of the Celtic Park cauldron.

“You need your goalkeeper,” Lennon said. “It’s nothing be ashamed of. You need your goalkeeper to play well against top opposition.

“Time and again, he’s proved that he can do that over his career – especially in his time here.

“I believe he was quite emotional after the game. It’s fantastic for him and fantastic for us.

“I think the muscle memory kicks in, when you get into that sort of arena. The environment brought the best out of him – and he made big saves in big moments. That’s why we brought him in.

“You almost get disappointed when he does concede a goal, because he’s that good.

“It’s just his presence and what he brings to the team. It was great to see that manifest itself again, having seen it here six or seven years ago.

“I think he just wanted to play. He’d been on the cusp with a couple of loans last season that didn’t come through.

“We knew there was interest from the player to come, and with Bainy [Scott Bain] having an injury for a couple of months, we needed another goalkeeper in.

“I wanted a top one, and I think we’ve got a top one in.”

Forster’s spectacular injury-time stop, as he clawed out Lazio substitute Danilo Cataldi’s peach of a volley from the top corner, grabbed most of the headlines after the game. For Lennon, though, his earlier stop from Lazio skipper Manuel Parolo with the scores locked at 1-1 was even better.

“That was a brilliant save, because it was a goal all the way,” he said. “The later one, it was such a great hit – but maybe he’s got more time to see it and get across. It was a brilliant save as well, of course, but, for me, the block from four or five yards out is immense. Absolutely immense. And then, when he saves it, the ball goes 20 or 30 yards away, as well.

“That should also be a lesson to us in the dying moments of the game. It’s frantic, players need a break because we’ve been under a bit of pressure. We should have handled that situation better, it should never have got to the volley.

“We should have played a ball over the top and it could have been 3-1, home and hosed, rather than 2-1 or even 2-2. It’s important that we look at it. We can’t be lax like that and invite the pressure on again.

“I said last night it was like Stuart Armstrong against England at Hampden. We fortunately got on the right side of it last night, but it could easily have been 3-1 with the way Lazio were throwing things at us last night.”

Unfortunately for Celtic, there are tens of thousands of reasons why it may prove difficult to turn Forster’s temporary move back to the club a permanent one come the summer, and bridging the gap to the wages he receives in the English Premier League is undeniably a huge stumbling block to that ever happening.

Lennon would dearly love to have him beyond the summer, and though he knows it will be difficult, that won’t stop him trying.

“We’re a long way off that yet,” the Celtic manager said. “There are so many factors in it.

“We’re grateful for the loan from Southampton. It depends on what the player wants to do and then what Southampton want to do, as well. So, we’re a long way off talking about that just yet.”

Lennon and his team have enough to occupy their minds in the short term, with a crucial Premiership encounter against Aberdeen at Pittodrie tomorrow lunchtime on the horizon.

He is hoping both he and his team have learned lessons from their last quick turnaround after an epic European night at Celtic Park, with the champions brought back down to earth with an almighty thump at Livingston on the back of the win over CFR Cluj.

That’s not to say he is minded to make too many changes to a winning team, but he concedes that there may be one or two players who need to be given a breather for their own good.

“We have to learn from the ClujLivingston double-header,” he said. “This is exactly the same.

“We have to get them back down to earth. I don’t think that will be too much of a problem but it’s a real stiff test for us on Sunday. There’s the travelling in between as well.

“Livingston can be a difficult venue at any time, and Aberdeen is the same. It’s a really tough game for us to go into.

“We may have to rotate a little bit, I don’t know if there are any aches and pains. A couple came down with cramp and maybe a bit of fatigue where it’s something we will have to look at.

“I don’t want to make too many changes.”

NEIL LENNON is hoping that the Old Firm can continue to fly the flag for Scotland on the European stage to improve the country’s coefficient, making it easier for them both to reach the Champions League in the future.

The Celtic manager believes the Scottish game was given a huge shot in the arm by his side’s win over Lazio at Celtic Park on Thursday night and Rangers’ earlier draw against Porto in Portugal.

He hopes, though, that as well as the reputational good those results have done for Scottish football, there can be a tangible reward in the future in terms of reducing the number of qualifiers needed to reach Europe’s premier competition, or even an extra Champions League place once again.

Scotland have the fourth best co-efficient score this season so far, and now sit in 18th place in the overall standings. If the league’s overall score can surpass Greece in 15th place, the nation will have two qualifying slots in the Champions League the season after next for the first time since 2012.

“We’re not getting carried away, but we’re half-way there and both teams are competing really, really well,” Lennon said.

“It would make a huge difference if we could get rid of that first qualifier, it would give me an extra week in Portugal! The four qualifiers are a marathon, and if you can take one away then great, but even three qualifiers is a big ask.

“We know how difficult it is, but we want to get the coefficient up. At the minute, though, all I’m thinking about is trying to get through the group and then take it from there. If that bodes well for the coefficient then so be it.

“It’s the gravitas for the club and the country, it’s important.

“We felt as if we had an opportunity to do something in the group, and so far we are prevailing, but there’s a long way to go yet.

“There’s a lot of football to be played. We’ve got to go to Rome now and they will have their backs up. It will be a really tough ask, but it’s one we’re looking forward to.

“Other teams will take points off each other as we go along, but it’s a great start and we’ve won our games at home which is really important.”

Lennon refuses to buy into the notion that the Europa League is the natural level for Scottish clubs, who struggle to complete with the cash-rich elite clubs at the very top of the European game.

And he says it is only a matter of time before Celtic or Rangers will be back mixing it in the knockout stages of the competition as they once were.

“I don’t believe that the Champions League is way beyond any Scottish club,” he said. “In time, we will be there again and challenging, and hopefully breaking the ceiling of the last-16 again.

“I don’t believe for one minute that’s too far away for the Scottish clubs.

“Both teams are in the Europa League at the minute and performing very well. It’s the competition we are in, so we have to maximise what we have in it. We’ve done that before and we’re hoping we can do that again.

“But in terms of the Champions League, I don’t believe that’s way beyond any of the Scottish clubs. I think that will come again.

“If you get to the last round [of the qualifiers] you don’t know what team you are going to get. It’s doable, even with the four [ties], it’s doable.

“I felt against Cluj we could have progressed, but then we could have got Slavia Prague who are a very good team. I watched them against Barcelona the other night and they were very unlucky not to get anything out of the game.”

Lennon hopes that the special atmosphere at the end of their win over Lazio, and the way in which they achieved it, can bring his players even closer together as the new faces become fully integrated into the squad.

And despite the fears prior to the game about the potential for the Lazio support to poison the atmosphere, those concerns proved largely unfounded as Lennon got the celebration of football he had pleaded for prior to the match.

“That’s what we wanted,” he said. “It was a great night.

“It had all the ingredients of those great nights we have had at Celtic Park, and it will be memorable, but we have to back it up now by qualifying.”