Celtic manager hails his players after reaching last 16

Celtic manager Neil Lennon said his Celtic players overcame their doubters and has hailed his players as ‘miracle workers’ as they overcame Spartak Moscow in a tense 2-1 win over the Russians which took them into the last 16 of the Champions League.

Celtic were drawn in a group alongside Benfica and Barcelona, winners of six European Cup titles between them, and a Spartak Moscow side that has spent more than £35m over the past two seasons strengthening their squad, and as the pot four side in their group, few gave them a chance of progression to the latter stages.

However with a series of magnificent performances, including a 2-1 win over Barcelona, saw the Hoops book their place in the latter stages along with the Catalan giants.

“It means the world to me,” said the manager after the game. “Obviously I´m a young manager and this is my first year in the Champions League. So to qualify with 10 points,

“I’m very proud of the players,” he said. “They have performed a miracle.

“People laughed at me when I said that my target was to qualify.

“No-one gave us a prayer going into this group, but we have qualified and deservedly so”

Barcelona had already secured top spot in Group G, leaving Celtic needing to better Benfica’s result at the Nou Camp to progress.

In what was another dramatic evening in Paradise, Gary Hooper opened the scoring in the 21st minute, but that was cancelled out by Ari before the break.

Kris Commons restored Celtic´s advantage in the 80th minute with a penalty kick and the Scottish champions saw out the nervy closing stages, sparking memorable scenes of celebration among the players, backroom staff and supporters.

“It’s a privilege to manage this club, but it’s not easy at times. There is a great expectation on you and getting into this group was vitally important for myself, to see where we could go.

“It’s nice to have on your record.

“It’s only Gordon [Strachan] that’s done it [in 2006/07 and 07/08], so to follow in his footsteps is great.

“But I’ve got a long way to go to emulate him and Martin [O’Neill], who had a huge influence on my career. The two of them have been great role models for me.”

Reflecting on a fraught evening against a lively Spartak side, Lennon added: “We didn’t play anywhere near the way we can in the first-half, but we had control in the second-half and deserved to win the game.

“We said ‘look lads, we’ve worked so hard hard to get here; you’ve got 45 minutes, go and take it’.

“We got the break with the penalty, but we created good chances.

“They’ve beaten Barcelona and they have reached the last 16 and that is fantastic.”

Lennon then revealed that he had not seen Commons take the penalty.

“I didn’t watch it,” he said. “I turned my back.

“I’ve seen the last couple and we’ve missed them. I just thought I’ll wait for the roar to go up.

Celtic could face Manchester United, Malaga, Juventus, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Schalke or PSG in the next stage of the tournament.

And Lennon joked: “I would take Malaga – it would be nice this time of the year over there.

“Seriously, it is going to be really tough, against the top teams in the groups.

“But we are there, we are going to enjoy it and we want to progress as far as we can in the competition.

“The spirit is fantastic and we have some quality players.

“They have put everything into the group and they have grown as the campaign has gone on and some have enhanced their reputations no end.”

The draw for the last 16 will be conducted in two weeks, on Thursday, December 20, with the fixtures scheduled for February 2013.