NEIL Lennon has endorsed Copenhagen’s plan to radically overhaul the Champions League qualifying process - and predicted Celtic could benefit from their suggested changes.
The Danish club have put forward proposals which would remove automatic entry to the lucrative group stages of Europe’s premier club competition for clubs in England, Germany, Italy and Spain.
If given the go-ahead – and the leading Premier League clubs down south are likely to oppose the recommendations – the Scottish champions would enter in the third qualifying round.
Lennon, whose team defeated Lazio home and away en route to the Europa League last 32 this season, believes the new-look tournament would be good for the treble treble winners.
“It would give you more time to prepare and a longer break in the summer,” he said. “It would give you a better chance of qualifying as well I think.”
Lennon will be without Ryan Christie, who is suspended, and Olivier Ntcham, who is injured, against Copenhagen tonight and admitted Tom Rogic could have an important role to play against Copenhagen tonight.
“You don’t like to lose him (Christie) because he’s a good player and he’s played really well the last couple of games so he’s a big loss,” he said. “I think the suspension is harsh.
“He (Rogic) has got a great chance of playing. He’s champing at the bit to play. He is certainly in our thoughts.
“I thought he played really well at the weekend. He’s a top player when he’s on form. He’s just had an ongoing issue with his knee and with the form of some other players he’s found it difficult to get regular game time.
“But he’s a great lad. He’s very, very talented and we’ll need a bit of creativity tomorrow, maybe someone to unlock the door and Tom’s that type of player who can do that.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here