Monday 9 December 2019 16:39, UK
Celtic manager Neil Lennon has praised his players after they helped complete his trophy collection by beating rivals Rangers in the Scottish League Cup final.
Christopher Jullien scored the only goal of the game at Hampden Park as the Hoops claimed their 10th trophy in a row, with the League Cup the only piece of silverware in Scotland that Lennon had not won as a player and manager.
"It's a big monkey off my back, it's been annoying me and eating away at me for a while," Lennon said of Sunday's cup final triumph.
"I've got all the trophies now, as a manager and as a player, so from a personal point of view, it was a very proud moment.
"What these players are doing is just incredible. That's seven cup finals in a row and 14 semi-finals.
"You have to remember that every team playing against them on the way wants to beat them. They are desperate to get to that final, desperate to get that trophy and the players keep coming up with answers.
"I am so proud to be associated with it but it's an incredible run of silverware and our fans, who were amazing yesterday, should enjoy it because we may never see the like of this again."
Celtic were on the backfoot for much of the game, with Rangers making much of the early running.
Steven Gerrard's side found Celtic goalkeeper Fraser Forster in formidable form, however, as he made a number of crucial saves, including a penalty stop from Alfredo Morales after Hoops defender Jeremie Frimpong had been sent off for fouling the Gers striker in the box.
Despite his side's indifferent performance, Lennon believes they will be able to take something positive from winning under pressure in a Hampden final without being at their best.
"When we do analyse it we may look at how the expectation was maybe big on them," added Lennon.
"Some of them were in tears after the game, with relief I think, more than anything else.
"I think you have to go through a bad performance and overcome it, which they did do, and come out the other side of it and I think psychologically, going forward, it will be huge for them.
"I said before the game, cup finals you have to take in isolation. Form goes out the window.
"We've done it, we've won it, however satisfactory the performance was or not, the important thing was to win it and now we move on."
Celtic will be moving on to Romania next, where they face Cluj in the Europa League, with the luxury of knowing they will advance to the knockout stages of the competition as Group E winners, regardless of the outcome of Thursday's game.
