Lennon gains encouragement

Lennon: Reason for optimism

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Celtic manager Neil Lennon gained additional encouragement from his side's fightback against Lyon as they prepare to try and keep their UEFA Champions League hopes alive.

Having trailed their French opponents 2-0 into the last 10 minutes, the Scottish giants managed to grab a 2-2 draw through Gary Hooper and Georgios Samaras in the opening match of the Emirates Cup on Saturday afternoon.

The battling display is exactly what Celtic will require on Wednesday when Braga visit Glasgow for the second leg of their UEFA Champions League qualifier, with the Portuguese holding a strong three-goal aggregate lead.

Lennon has always maintained that he has not given up on his club's Champions League aspirations and he saw extra reason for optimism in the performance against 2009/10 European Cup semi-finalists Lyon.

Precautionary reasons

"I said the other night that I don't think the tie is dead," Lennon told Sky Sports 3.

"But we need to be at our very best and you saw a glimpse of that today."

Influential midfielder Scott Brown was substituted in the second half of the draw with Lyon and spent the remainder of the match with an ice pack on his ankle following a rough challenge from Kim Kallstrom.

But Lennon is confident his captain will be fit to face Braga, he said: "I think he just got a kick on the foot, but obviously we took him off straight away for precautionary reasons.

"We will just wrap him up for a few days and see how he is."