Celtic boss Neil Lennon responds to Dan Petrescu’s referee claim

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Celtic manager Neil Lennon has responded to CFR Cluj manager Dan Petrescu’s claim that the referee will favour the Hoops tonight.

Lennon’s side face a do-or-die clash with the Romanian outfit tonight at Celtic Park. Having secured a huge 1-1 draw at Cluj last week thanks to James Forrest’s brilliant strike, it’s definitely advantage Celtic.

And that’s been proven with some of Petrescu’s ridiculous comments since the contest. The shrewd tactician claimed, for example, that tonight’s referee will favour Celtic because the game is at Celtic Park (Scottish Sun).

But Lennon simply wasn’t having it. Here’s what the Northern Irishman had to say at his press conference on Celtic TV.

“I just ignore it, because we’ve had our fair share of decisions go against us in Europe over the years. I thought the referee was excellent in the first leg so I have no complaints there.

“I have no complaints over any of the refereeing performances that I’ve seen so far. I don’t think there’s ay bias from the referees either.”

Dan Petrescu’s claim makes him look ridiculous

There was no need for Petrescu’s comments, and they simply add unnecessary fuel to the fire. He has a decent team at his disposal tonight, and he should be concentrating on finding a system to exploit us as opposed to having a go at referees who haven’t even reffed a game yet.

Yes, there is some truth to the fact that certain referees may sway to the home side. But very rarely do you see it happen in football, and you certainly can’t expect it tonight.

Petrescu may not have seen some of the harsh decisions we’ve had over the years. Jeremy Toljan’s red card in Valencia being the latest poor decision to have hit us in Europe. We have a history of poor decisions costing us European ties.

Petrescu seems keen to try and shift as much pressure as he can onto the Celtic players, but it simply isn’t working.

Lenny looked the picture of composure at his press conference yesterday. There’s absolutely no way these mind-games from the Cluj boss is having any sort of effect on him.

And, even if Petrescu was trying to shift some pressure onto the referee, it shows a man who’s getting desperate in his search for a route back into this tie.