NEIL Lennon is adamant that Celtic will quickly bounce back from their Glasgow berby disappointment, and the manager believes the UEFA Europa League tie against AC Milan presents the perfect opportunity for Celtic to show their mental resilience.

The Scottish champions will kick off their group-stage campaign against the Italian giants at Paradise tomorrow evening (Thursday), and it's a match that the Celtic squad are looking forward to.

“We’ve had the luxury of having some days on the training ground together and we move on,” the Celtic manager said. “We get our heads down and work hard but we also need to hold our heads high. There’s a long way to go. We’re not happy with the result but there’s plenty of time to improve and bounce back.

“We’re all disappointed but we’re not dwelling on it and we’re not smoothing things over as if everything is okay. We’re just going to work away and accept the criticism when it comes. I get that, we’ve been here before. We’re looking to react as positively as we can with a run of games where we play well and win.

“We weren’t very good on Saturday, particularly in the second half, and that’s on me. I have to take responsibility for the team performance and we’re working really hard in the background to get back to the penetrating quick football that we know we’re capable of doing. That’s what we’re looking for in the next three or four games to try and hit those heights again.”

Celtic have a number of big fixtures coming up before the next international break in November, starting with AC Milan tomorrow. Three days later, Celtic head to Pittodrie to face Aberdeen in the league before flying to France to face Lille in the Europa League and then squaring off again against Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden on November 1.

Neil Lennon said the challenging run of fixtures is hugely exciting and will provide the impetus for the Hoops to capture their best form.

“They’re all good games on paper,” said the Irishman. “They’re games we should all look forward to and we all are. It’ll get their competitive juices going. It’s been a bit stop-start, so I’m hoping in the next block of games we’ll find out fluidity a little bit more.

“It’s there and there’s more to come, there’s no question of that. It’s just a question of trying to find that little spark. The reaction is the most important thing now. We need to pick ourselves up and be strong and tough mentally. These players are and they’ve shown that time and time again. I know we can play better and it’s my job to get the best out of the players as we go along.”

Neil Lennon also confirmed that Odsonne Edouard and Chris Jullien will both miss out against AC Milan, as will Nir Bitton and Hatem Elhamed, but Ryan Christie returns to the squad for the game.

Neil Lennon: We're determined to bounce back against AC Milan