AHEAD of Celtic’s UEFA Europa League group-stage match against Lille tomorrow night (Thursday), Neil Lennon said he expects a tough encounter but is confident his side have what it takes to triumph.

Lille go into the match following a 4-1 away win against Sparta Prague last week, and currently sit second on goal difference behind Paris Saint-Germain in the French Ligue 1. To this end, the manager said he and his players will savour the challenge of locking horns with a team in good form.

“We need to get something positive to the game in order to get a foothold in the group, which is what we’ll try to do,” said the manager. "We trained well at the stadium, the boys are good the spirits are good. We’re looking forward to the game, it’s going to be a very difficult challenge and we have to play very strongly tomorrow night.

“What I’m looking for is the performance first. We’d like to win the game and maybe get something out of the game. Lille rotate their squad a little bit. They’ve had a great start to the season, which doesn’t surprise me. They’ve got real good pace and power going forward.

“I think it’s a great test for us and we had a great second half against Milan, I was happy with a lot of aspects from the weekend and we’ll be hoping to see that again tomorrow night.”

Nir Bitton and Odsonne Edouard have both travelled to France, which the manager feels is a great lift for the squad as a whole. In turn, he described his players as confident ahead of what is sure to be a test in all areas of the pitch.

He added: “We’re starting to look stronger again and all of my focus is on this one. We’re looking forward to the game, a real tough game. The players are used to looking ahead and not looking back. We are very tight, the unity is good in the team and atmosphere has pleased me.

“Even at a difficult time, they seem to be in a pretty confident mood at the minute, which is great. We don’t want to get too far away in the group, so we really want something from tomorrow night.”

Neil Lennon: Lille game is a great test that we want to win