Juventus 2 Celtic 0: We’ll savour ‘fantastic experience’ – Lennon

Neil Lennon insisted that Celtic would savour the “fantastic experience” of reaching the Champions League last-16 after Juventus swept aside the SPL champions in the second-leg in Turin.

Alessandro Matri put the Serie A holders ahead in the 24th minute, with the striker finishing from close range after Fraser Forster failed to parry Fabio Quagliarella’s shot to safety.

The Hoops came close to netting at Juventus Stadium through Gary Hooper but Manchester United target Quagliarella sealed the victory on the night, and a 5-0 aggregate win, with a low finish after superb play by Andrea Pirlo and Arturo Vidal.

Despite the disappointment of crashing out of the competition, Lennon maintained that he was proud of his players for an impressive campaign, which included a 2-1 group-stage win against Barcelona at Parkhead.

“The support of the club is amazing and it is a privilege to manage them. It has been a fantastic experience. We have been brilliant in the league,” he told Sky Sports.

“I do not like losing. As you get older, you learn from other managers. Even the greatest managers lose their temper from time to team. We want to see our team perform all the time and we are under scrutiny all the time. I would rather be managing here than at other clubs.

“You do not know the circumstances of next season, I may never get to do this again. The two games against Barcelona were titanic and I will take them in the memory bank. I hope we have plenty more of those to come.”