Neil Lennon pleased with win over Cliftonville

Celtic manager Neil Lennon has praised his side's attacking prowess following their 3-0 win over Cliftonville in the first leg of their Champions League qualifier.

Mikael Lustig, Georgios Samaras and James Forrest were on target for the Scottish Champions, giving them a three-goal lead to take into the home leg.

"I'm delighted. We played well and scored three goals and created a lot of chances," Sky Sports News quotes Lennon as saying.

"Hopefully we have a clean bill of health. It was a sticky game for us and we dealt with it very well.

"A lot of the talk has been about our pre-season and the results but we just wanted to try to get right for these games."

Lennon went on to speak of his pride at taking Celtic to play a Champions League tie in his home country of Northern Ireland.

"It meant a lot to me personally, bringing a team back home," he added.

"It was a special occasion and I wanted it to be right. I couldn't have asked for any more of the occasion. Both sets of supporters were brilliant."

The second leg takes place at Celtic Park next Tuesday.