Celtic finishing delights manager Neil Lennon

Lennon hopes Hooper can recover quickly from an ankle injury

Neil Lennon believes the 5-1 hammering of Dundee United was the perfect lift before Celtic's Europa League tie with Sion on Thursday.

"I couldn't ask any more of the players," said the manager. "Second half they really turned on the gas and some of the football was fantastic.

"It will be different on Thursday. They are a battle-hardened European side.

"If we play as open as that, we could get punished. However, going forward, we can score goals against any team."

Gary Hooper was among the goalscorers for Celtic but the striker was carried off on a stretcher after a challenge from Paul Dixon.

Lennon does not know the extent of the damage but hopes to have last season's top-scorer available for the first leg against Sion in Glasgow.

"He seems to have rolled his ankle, which is a trend for us," said Lennon.

"We'll X-ray him tomorrow, with a scan on Monday, and with a bit of luck he could be fit for Thursday."

Anthony Stokes headed Celtic into an early lead before Jonny Russell replied for the visitors, who were livelier than the score suggests.

But Hooper restored the home team's lead almost immediately, while Ki Sung-Yeung, Joe Ledley and James Forrest knocked in second-half goals.

"We were clinical, which we weren't last week at Aberdeen," added Lennon.

"Luckasz (Zaluska) had to make a couple of decent saves but you expect that when Dundee United come here. They've got some good attacking players and they are always a threat.

"We wanted the three wins out of three. We got that. I'm disappointed at conceding a goal but you can't have everything."

Switching focus back to the next game, Lennon said Sion were a team to be respected.

"We had them watched against Basle and they scored three goals and we've got someone at today's game against Lucernne.

"We'll see what personnel we have and go for it."

And the manager was confident about adding to his squad before the end of August.

"Hopefully, we'll have a couple of new faces in this week," he revealed. "If not, the week after. We're working very hard behind the scenes."