McGeady set for Celtic return

Celtic coach Neil Lennon insists midfielder Aiden McGeady has a “great chance” of returning to the Hoops side for tomorrow night’s Champions League clash with Aalborg.

The Ireland international has missed the last five games with a calf injury but joined the Parkhead squad at Glasgow airport this morning for the flight to Denmark.

Also among the Celtic squad was striker Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, who has not played since injuring his groin against Hamilton last month.

Lennon revealed that McGeady is the more likely player to feature against the Danish club.

“Aiden has a great chance, the former Celtic skipper said. “His calf injury is okay. He had bit of tendonitis in the knee in the last couple of days but he came in yesterday and felt really good.

“He will probably train tonight and we will see how he is although Jan is more long-term.”

Celtic’s Champions League aspirations hang on the match at the Energi Nord Arena.

The Hoops have taken just one point from a possible 51 in their Champions League group phase matches away from home and will suffer an early exit from the competition if they fail to beat the Danes who are also on two points in Group E.

However, even an historic away victory is no guarantee of a last-16 spot for the third year in succession.

Manchester United have to beat Villarreal in Spain in the other Group E clash that night, which would then leave Strachan’s men looking for a win over the Yellow Submarine in Glasgow on match day six.

Lennon recognised the difficulty Celtic face in reaching the knockout stages again.

“It is a must-win game for us,” he said. “I think it will be a British style game. But we are in good form and we want to get that monkey off our back in terms of winning away from home.

“We have plenty of attacking options and players capable of scoring a goal at any time. I think they are a confident team at home so we have to withstand that pressure.

“There are no guarantees but we are also pretty confident. It is frustrating that qualifying is out of our hands but we have to get on and win this game and that is not a certainty by any means.

“We will just concentrate on what we are going to do tomorrow night.”