Lennon takes responsibility for Celtic's shock Euro defeat

Neil Lennon has said that he will accept the consequences of Celtic’s defeat to Ferencvaros and that there are “no excuses” for their Champions League exit.

The Scottish champions fell to a 2-1 home loss in the second qualifying round as goals from David Siger and Tokmac Nguen, either side of a strike from Ryan Christie, saw the Hungarians progress.

Celtic will drop into the Europa League qualifiers but that was no consolation for Lennon after the shock result and he apologised to supporters for the early exit from the competition.

“I am angry, frustrated, disappointed,” he said. “All those and more.

“We had enough chances to win the game comfortably. There is no excuses. It is on me and I have to accept the consequences of that.

“We have to apologise to the supporters and look to make the best of what we have got for the rest of the season.”

Celtic dominated possession but couldn’t find the goals they needed and Lennon said the team didn’t lack opportunities.

“The game was easier than I thought it was going to be,” he said. “We had really good control.

“They scored early but I thought we started well in the second half and scored, hit the bar and we only have ourselves to blame.

“I have to take responsibility. It is the first time in 15 years we have gone out so early, that is down to me.”

Ferencvaros boss Sergei Rebrov admitted he didn’t expect to see Lennon field a team without a recognised striker after Odsonne Edouard was ruled out through injury, but he praised his side for making the most of the chances that came their way.

“We played against the strongest team we have played in Europe,” he said.

“Maybe they didn’t shoot enough. I’m very glad for my players. We tried to play to our plan. The early goal helped us.

“I was really surprised they didn’t play with a recognised striker because they had two strikers on the bench.

“Their plan was to find fast players between the lines. Most of the time we were defending but we didn’t give Celtic too many chances.

“They had some problems in defence. We tried to go for counter-attacks. Tokmac is very fast and he used it for the winning goal.”