Petrov sets seven-point target for Bhoys

STILIAN PETROV believes Celtic must take at least seven points from their last three group games to have any chance of a Champions League knock-out place.

Last season’s UEFA CUP finalists plunged to the foot of Group A after missing a golden opportunity to gain their first away win in Europe’s premier competition.

Anderlecht were forced to play 64 minutes o f Tuesday night’s match in the Constant Vanden Stock Stadium with 10 men and with just 17-year-old Vincent Kompany in the centre of defence after having captain Glen de Boeck dismissed for his second yellow card.

But the Belgians still managed to snatch the victory, courtesy of Dindane Aruna’s dramatic winner, and moved level on points with Lyon in second, one adrift of leaders Bayern Munich on five and one ahead of Celtic.

Martin O’Neill’s men now have two home matches against Anderlecht and Bayern which Petrov insists they must win.

“There are still a lot of games to be played so a lot could happen,” he insisted. “We definitely need to win our home games, but we need to win away as well if we want to qualify. The group can change around so we will have to wait and see.

“It seems like we need to take a point in Lyon, but we will see. The manager is always positive but all he can say is that we didn’t play well enough to win the game. We failed to win the game, it’s as simple as that so from now on we need to show some character to win the games.”

“We are all very disappointed,” added Petrov. “We made it hard for ourselves and we didn’t play well enough to win. Now we must get ready for the next one.”

Celtic defender Jackie McNamara is set to miss the Bank of Scotland Premier League game with Aberdeen on Saturday. The Scotland international picked up a hamstring injury during the defeat at Anderlecht and was substituted at half-time.

Stanislav Varga and Stilian Petrov also picked up slight knocks in Brussels but both are expected to be fit. Alan Thompson, Chris Sutton and Joos Valgaeren all emerged from the game without reaction to recent injuries and will also play.

And defender Johan Mjallby will also be ready to return after coming through a full U21 game on Monday where winger Steve Guppy also returned to action.

Defender Ulrik Laursen is still recovering from a knee injury while Stephen Crainey is set for a reassessment of his own knee problem. But club captain Paul Lambert will remain sidelined after suffering bruising to his anklebone, although he is expected to return to training within the next few weeks.