NEIL Lennon last night dismissed claims by Dan Petrescu that it will take a “miracle” for his CFR Cluj side to defeat Celtic in the Champions League third qualifying round as mind games.

Petrescu, the former Chelsea and Romania right back whose team have defeated Astana and Maccabi Tel Aviv in recent weeks, insisted the Scottish champions were the overwhelming favourites to win and progress to the play-off with Slavia Prague.

However, Lennon, who will have Hatem Abd Elhamed available after the Israeli defender recovered from the dead leg that he suffered on his debut against St Johnstone on Saturday, rates Cluj highly and admitted the Parkhead club could go on the defensive in the Dr Constantin Radulescu Stadium this evening in order to get a result.

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“Dan’s trying to play down their chances, but I think it’s going to be a tough tie,” he said. "They are champions of Romania, in good form recently and came through a tough tie in the last round. We are not buying into that at all.

“They have a good core squad and quality. They are a threat, they score goals and they don’t give much away. I don’t know what their budget is. I have a fair idea what ours is, but on the night budgets go out the window and the team that plays the strongest will prevail.

“It will be about decision making on the pitch and how the players manage the game. If we have to be pragmatic then so be it. The game is over two legs, not one. We need to make sure we get a positive result and stay in the tie and get our teeth into something to go back to Glasgow with. You can skin it both ways.

“You can play blistering football and it comes off or you can be dogged or concentrated. I think that’s going to be more likely to happen the way Cluj play.”

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Meanwhile, Lennon, who dismissed stories that he is interested in signing former England striker Andy Carroll and Brentford left back Rico Hendry, revealed that Kieran Tierney could be ready to return to training on grass in a week.

Tierney, who has been the subject of two failed bids from Arsenal this summer, is recovering from a double hernia operation and a pubic problem, but his manager rubbished claims he was set to be sidelined for another two months.

“He’ll be fit in a week or two,” he said. “He still has some abductor pain but I think the pubic is staying to settle and he’s over the double hernia as well. I know there is talk of him being out for another eight weeks, but that’s nonsense. I don’t know where that’s come from because that’s certainly not the case at all.

“He’s missed the whole of pre-season, but I’d say he’s more or less a week away from getting back on the grass and getting back integrated to the training. You can add maybe another week or ten days on top of that before he’s ready to play.

“It’s all gone a bit quiet at the minute which is surprising for me. It (the move to Arsenal) may or may not happen now. Listen, I know these deals can get done at a minute to twelve – it could get done on the afternoon or later in the evening.

“I’d be surprised if there wasn’t another offer for Kieran but delighted too. If we keep Kieran then it’s brilliant because we’ll be keeping a top quality player.

"It’ll just be a case of getting him back on the pitch doing what he does best. We’re already doing some great things without him, so when he adds to what we have already got we’ll be even better.”

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Lennon added: “Hatem should be fine, he trained before we flew out. He was our only real concern, but he should be okay. Mikey Johnston is a little bit tight but we’re pretty confident he should be okay as well.

“Bringing Christopher Jullien back is a consideration. Jozo Simunovic also comes back into our thinking as well. That’s something we’ll talk about before the game.”