NEIL LENNON is already sweating over the return of his united nations squad after the international break.

The Celtic manager last night waved off the bulk of his top-team players as the headed to World Cup qualifiers all around the world.

Lennon's anxiety level has been further raised by the fact he wanted the Hoops' first game after they re-assemble to be a week on Sunday, to give his men – some of who will be travelling back from central and South America – the maximum time possible to recover and regroup.

So the Parkhead boss is bitterly disappointed to discover that, because they must travel to play Barcelona at the Nou Camp on Tuesday, October 23, the SPL leaders are actually scheduled to play again at lunchtime on Saturday, October 27.

To make matters worse, for TV purposes, the game against St Mirren at Love Street kicks off at 12.30pm.

Lennon is delighted those who are not called up by their countries – including Gary Hooper and Kris Commons – will be able to use the break to recharge their batteries.

But, the Hoops boss – who will be in Cardiff on Friday to watch as many as five of his players take part in the Wales v Scotland tie – can only keep his fingers crossed all of his key men return fit.

Lennon said: "It's never a good time for these breaks, in terms of breaking momentum you are building up at a club. But now we are better prepared for it.

"The trouble for us is, that with the squad we have, a lot of our players away playing for their countries. When they come back, I wish it was a Sunday game with an afternoon kick-off."

Lennon added: "The main concern is the condition they will be in when they do return. We know how much game time each of them will have had, but we don't know how much travelling they will have done.

"Then it is the lack of preparation after they get back. We have very little time to prepare them for a game. That's the most frustrating part of it."

One man who could benefit from playing in the internationals is Beram Kayal, who has struggled to get game time since recovering from an ankle injury.

The Israeli midfielder did not get any further than the bench in Moscow, but came on with 20 minutes to go in the 1-0 win over Hearts yesterday.

Lennon explained: "Players like Beram have had very little football recently, and we just wanted to break them back in gently.

"Plus, with the momentum the team has got, sometimes you don't want to break that up.

"Sometimes players will ask, 'Why are you resting me today when I played so well?'

"We didn't want to make too many changes against Hearts. But, in hindsight, maybe a couple more may have made us just a little bit fresher."

Charlie Mulgrew will be checked to see if he suffered any concussion in a clash with Hearts' keeper Jamie MacDonald which forced both men off.

But the defender will report for Scotland duty, along with captain Scott Brown, who was rested yesterday.

Meanwhile, Celtic's Champions League opponents had mixed fortunes over the weekend. Barcelona were held to a 2-2 draw by Real Madrid at the Nou Camp, Benfica beat Beira Mar 2-1, while Spartak Moscow went down 2-0 against CSKA Moscow.