Celtic: Neil Lennon looking to restore respectability in Turin
Last updated on .From the section Football
Neil Lennon believes Celtic are capable of victory against Juventus in the second leg of the Champions League last-16 round on Wednesday.
But after a 3-0 first-leg defeat, he conceded that winning by a sufficient margin to progress would be miraculous.
"We are capable of winning the game and that's what we'd like to do," he said.
"The pressure's really off. We'll try to restore some respectability in the tie. However, to qualify would take a minor miracle."
The Glasgow side are hoping to qualify for the quarter-finals for the first time.
"Trying not to concede a goal after two or three minutes would help and get a foothold in the game," Lennon added.
"If we can create as many chances as we did at Celtic Park then we should have a great night.
"Georgios Samaras will make a difference to us, he's been a pivotal player for us this season.
"James Forrest is fit now and finding his best form and we've always got goals in the likes of Gary Hooper and Anthony Stokes.
"We've got plenty of players who can give Juventus a problem. We need to start the game well."
Meanwhile, Celtic's assistant manager Johan Mjallby wants his players to approach Wednesday night's Champions League last-16 second leg tie with Juventus carefully.
"We need to make sure we defend much better this time," said Mjallby.
"When it came to the first leg we created a lot of chances and we need to be brave and make sure we play good attacking football."
Gary Hooper and Scott Brown were both booked in penalty-box clashes in the controversial first leg at Celtic Park and Lennon sought feedback from Uefa on Spanish referee Alberto Mallenco's performance after claiming they should have had at least one penalty during the match.
The squad left Glasgow on Tuesday without injured striker Tony Watt, who joins Scott Brown and Mikael Lustig on the injury list, but Charlie Mulgrew travelled after missing three games with a muscle problem.
Given the high-profile incidents which marred the first leg, Mjallby knows his players need to have faith in Turkish referee Firat Aydinus in Turin.
"We watched the previous game they played, against Napoli away, and I have to say they did the same thing again," said Mjallby.
"They were marking their opponents very, very roughly and hard when it comes to corner-kicks and wide free-kicks against. We just have to be ready for it and hopefully the referee is very strong if it happens again.
"They should always be strong, that's their job. If the referee thinks it's a penalty and if it's a penalty by the rule book then it should be awarded a penalty.
"If we give back the same medicine, you never know what is going to happen.
"We just need to be strong mentally and maybe move about a wee bit more and see if it's harder for them to mark us.
"We are a threat at set-pieces. We have to believe we can score when we have corner-kicks for example, and we are not going to change things because during this campaign we have been quite successful at set-pieces."
