Football

Neil Lennon tips Leigh Griffiths to make Celtic impact after personal issues


Neil Lennon senses Leigh Griffiths will make a major contribution for Celtic after the striker completed his comeback against Sarajevo.

The Scotland international came on for the last 12 minutes as Celtic won 2-1 to secure a 5-2 aggregate victory in the first qualifying round of the Champions League.

Griffiths had not played a competitive game since December after taking time out to deal with personal issues and he received a huge ovation from the Celtic Park crowd.

“It was fantastic, it should mean a lot to him,” Lennon said. “It’s great to see him back. He’s not fully there yet but it’s step by step and he’s in a good place. We will give him more game time as we go along.

“He looked good on Saturday [against Rennes] for an hour and looked nice and sharp when he came on so he’s hungry to play.

“He has missed a long time out and he’s worked really, really hard at the back end of last season on his own. And just to integrate himself with the boys again, I think he is getting a real kick out of that and looking now as if he’s going to make a significant contribution.”

Griffiths came on three minutes after Callum McGregor fired Celtic back in front from 22 yards.

The hosts had looked in complete command after Ryan Christie’s 26th-minute opener but a loose pass from the new left-back Boli Bolingoli led to the visitors equalising in the 62nd minute.

However, Lennon was more than satisfied with the performance as Celtic set up an encounter with the Estonian champions Nomme Kalju.

“My only bugbear is conceding the goal,” the manager said. “We were in total control. But Callum has come up with a brilliant goal to win the game and he was outstanding again, him and [Scott] Brown in the midfield.”

Lennon is hopeful he will have a new arrival before the Estonian club visit next Wednesday. “I think we’ll maybe have something in the next few days hopefully,” he said.



READ SOURCE

Leave a Reply

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you accept our use of cookies.