Neil Lennon says Champions League games make up for lack of Rangers clashes

Neil Lennon believes that the loss of matches against Rangers has been mitigated by the club's inclusion in this year's Champions League.

This weekend would have seen the first clash of the season between Celtic and their oldest rivals, before the latter were placed in Division Three and replaced by first "Club 12" and then Dundee.

Instead of facing up to an Old Firm match, Neil Lennon has to prepare his team for the visit of a Dundee side desperate to win their first away match of the season.

Despite admitting that his club would feel the financial effect of Rangers not being in the SPL, Lennon believes that his team have not suffered from a lack of spectacle because of their qualifcation for the Champions League.

He said: "I haven't really detected much of a difference.I think eventually you move on and there has been a hole there but it's up to other clubs to fill that void.

"The games have been very competitive, some of the football has been good. In terms of a financial point of view we will miss those games, but from a footballing sense the European games more than make up for it."

While many pundits suspected that Celtic would stroll to the league title this season, indifferent early form and strong showings from rival clubs have meant that the reigning Champions are already playing catch-up.

Lennon believes that while there is no need for his own side to panic about being behind in the early stages, he paid tribute to some of the teams he thinks will keep the division competitive this year.

He continued: "Stuart (McCall) has done brilliantly over his time there (at Motherwell). He's been very consistent with such a small squad.

"We know Dundee United will be there or thereabouts, Hearts have been a bit inconsistent and I think Aberdeen will come on a run as well, so there are still some big Scottish clubs in the mix.

"We have to find our own consistency. I understand why we've not been as consistent as we normally are this season. I think now the players have experienced their first Champions League game, they've sampled it, they can put that away and fully focus on what's ahead of us domestically."

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