Kennedy: Fortress Parkhead can save us
John Kennedy admits Celtic may have to depend on their home form to get them out of the group stages of the Champions League for the second season in succession.
The Parkhead side’s dismal away record in the group stages of the tournament was extended to 14 games without a win as they lost to a late Oscar Cardozo goal against Benfica in Lisbon.
Gordon Strachan’s side are now bottom of Group D with one win against AC Milan in Glasgow set against a defeat in Ukraine against Shakhtar Donetsk and last night’s disappointment in the Stadium of Light.
Celtic won through to the last 16 of the Champions League last year with the nine points they garnered at Parkhead and Kennedy is looking for the same again.
The Celtic defender said: “Nine points could take us through again. If we can win all our home games then it gives us a great chance.
“We’ve done well in every game that we have played at home so we have to take that into the return game against Benfica in a fortnight and hope that we do well.
“Unfortunately we didn’t get any points against Benfica so the return game is a big game now, it is crucial that we take three points to keep in touch and you never know what might happen.”
The Scottish champions can have no complaints about the result which represented yet another disappointment on the road.
Strachan’s side matched Benfica in the first half but after the break the Paraguay international Cardozo twice hit the woodwork and was denied by a world-class save from Celtic goalkeeper Artur Boruc before netting the winner four minutes from time.
Kennedy, however, insists the Parkhead side’s dismal away record in the tournament is not affecting the players psychologically before games abroad.
He said: “I don’t think so. It always gets mentioned but a lot of teams in Europe find it hard away from home and we are no different. Obviously last night was maybe a chance for us to get a point at least but we kind of threw it away at the end.
“You have to have a bit of luck to get results away from home and we thought for a long period that the luck was maybe with us.
“The boys worked so hard throughout the whole game to shut them down and so it was just so disappointing to lose at the end.”
Benfica boss Jose Antonio Camacho was glad that his side got the late breakthrough.
He said: “It was horrible when we were creating chances and the ball wouldn’t go in. I said that if we got the first goal we would not lose and that’s what happened.
“The most important thing was three points, we were happy with that. Our next game is in Glasgow and we will be ready for that.”
