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Neil Lennon is discounting counterpart Dan Petrescu’s suggestion that Cluj would need “a miracle” to knock Celtic out of Champions League qualifying.
The Celtic manager received a boost with the news that new signing Hatem Abd Elhamed has shaken off a dead leg before Wednesday’s first leg.
Petrescu, who rested nine players on Saturday, has a doubt over veteran Argentine midfielder Emmanuel Culio.
“I don’t really buy into Dan’s comments,” Lennon said.
“I don’t know the budgets of both teams, but I do know it will be competitive.”
Former Chelsea, Sheffield Wednesday and Romania right-back Petrescu believes his side upset the odds against Astana of Kazakhstan and Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv in the opening two rounds and will need to punch above their financial weight again to reach the play-off stage.
But Lennon is aware that the 51-year-old, who has managed in Russia, Qatar, China and the United Arab Emirates before his return to his homeland this year, has had success against Scottish opposition before, when he guided Unirea Urziceni to a 4-1 Champions League win over Rangers at Ibrox in 2009.
“He’s had a very varied career as a coach,” the Celtic boss said. “So we are very respectful of Dan.
“They cross the ball early, I think they will be a threat at set plays as well. We have to be mentally strong and have good concentration.”
Cluj are unbeaten in four Liga 1 games this season and have two 3-2 aggregate successes in Champions League qualifying after recovering from a 1-0 defeat in Astana and following that by setting up victory against Maccabi with a single-goal first-leg win.
Celtic won both legs against Sarajevo of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Estonia’s Nomme Kalju before thumping St Johnstone 7-0 at home in Saturday’s Scottish Premiership opener.
“We come here in good form, Cluj are in good form, so I think the tie is pretty even,” Lennon said.
“We have got a bit of momentum, we had a great result at the weekend. It will have no real relevance on Wednesday night, but psychologically it’s good for the players to have a win and a performance like that going into such an important game.
“This is a totally different animal. This is Europe, away from home, against the Romanian champions.”
Petrescu happy with ‘any win’
Although Scotland left-back Kieran Tierney, Australia midfielder Tom Rogic and on-loan Manchester City winger Daniel Arzani remain sidelined for Celtic, centre-backs Jozo Simunovic and Christopher Jullien are available for a recall after being suspended against St Johnstone, while right-back Elhamed has recovered from a knock.
Petrescu is likely to return to his normal line-up after resting most of his team for Saturday’s 4-1 win away to Chindia Targoviste.
The Cluj coach reckons “any win” would be “good” for his side in the first leg, while even a 0-0 draw would be “not bad”.
“I know what to expect in five or six days time at Celtic Park, where there will be a fantastic atmosphere and nothing to lose for us,” he added.
