Euro exploits take toll on Celtic

Celtic manager Neil Lennon said his side’s European exploits had taken their toll after he watched the Hoops twice throw away a lead to draw 2-2 with Hibernian at Parkhead on Saturday. The Hoops booked their place in the Champions League group stages for the first time in four years when they defeated Swedish champions Helsingborgs 2-0 in midweek to seal a 4-0 aggregate win in the play-offs. It was Celtic’s fourth qualifying match of the campaign so far after previously dispatching Finnish side HJK Helsinki over two legs in the third qualifying round. The games have taken a lot out of Lennon’s squad with the Celtic manager missing six first-team regulars for the meeting with Hibs due to injury. But the Hoops boss hopes the upcoming international break will allow his squad to recover. “The European games have certainly taken their toll on the squad. We had so many players out and we lost Victor Wanyama to an injury as well today,” Lennon said. “We had Beram Kayal, Scott Brown, Joe Ledley, Georgios Samaras and Charlie Mulgrew missing too. These are exceptionally good players but I’m not using that as an excuse as you want to bring these kids through. “Last week at Inverness was fantastic and against Hibs for the majority of the game they played great so I am not particularly unhappy with them. “We have been through the qualifiers now and hopefully when everything settles down after this two-week break we will go to St Johnstone with a good squad to pick from.”