NEIL LENNON is hoping to take his Celtic players abroad to play friendly matches as he looks to step up preparations for the Champions League qualifiers.

Celtic will enter the competition at the first qualifying round stage to be held on either August 18th or 19th, with their first three ties played over just a single leg before a two-legged play-off.

Manager Lennon will use the intervening period to get his men back up to full match fitness as they look to reach the group stages of Europe’s premier competition for the first time since the 2017/18 season, and that means scouring the continent for opposition who may be in a similar position to the Scottish champions.

“The domestic season will hopefully have started and hopefully we’ll have a game or two under our belts by the time the qualifiers start,” Lennon said.

“We’ll need to plan it a week or so in advance and start looking to getting some matches at some stage. We want them to get used to playing behind closed door so we might use the stadium for training a few times as well.

“The preparations will be so important and we might look at going abroad to get games.

“It might be difficult playing down in England as we’d have to wait until their season is finished before we can even think about arranging games with them.

“But we can look at French and Dutch teams. Their seasons were curtailed and they will be in the same position as ourselves so that’s something we’ll definitely pursue.”

With the qualifying matches to be played behind closed doors, Lennon admits that the home advantage they enjoy in front of the vociferous Celtic Park crowds on European nights could be a big loss for his men.

“We’ll get them on the pitch and get them adapted to playing at Celtic Park with no fans – which is going to be really strange for them,” he said.

“It works both ways. Home advantage is huge plus for us because of the support we have. I wouldn’t say we’ll be disadvantaged as such, but players love to play in front of big crowds.

“It’s been really strange watching the English games without the supporters and the noise. But it’s something we are going to go with for now.

“It’s like everything at the moment – you need to adapt. If you’re finding things normal right now, you’re not doing things right.

“There is no normal at the moment, you’re working day to day and week to week, waiting on government guidelines and advice from the authorities.

“UEFA have come to a decision and it’s probably the right one in trying to condense it all. If the games are behind closed doors, then home advantage is not a massive difference.

“We’ve seen it with the results in the Bundesliga where a lot of the home teams haven’t won.”

The Celtic manager has been delighted with the condition of his players upon their return to training in the last fortnight after their long lay-off, and he is looking to make the best of the situation by fully utilising the extended pre-season period, a luxury they haven’t been afforded in recent years.

“It’s been absolutely brilliant getting them all back together again,” he said. “You can almost feel the anticipation building again and excitement coming back.

“They are all in great condition. Some of these lads have not had much of a break in three or four years. I’ve been going through the stats and the likes of Broony (Scott Brown) and Callum (McGregor) are right at the top of minutes played.

“The break might be a godsend to Scott, he’s looking injury free and really fit. It will take a bit of time to get the football function back, with the twisting and turning, but we’ll eventually be doing games in training and they’ll get up to speed.

“It’s a longer pre-season period so we are not rushing like we are in previous years. In some summers they only get a couple of weeks off.

“But this time we can take a common-sense approach to it and get quality work into them.

“Hopefully it will benefit us in terms of Europe.”