Neil Lennon called Celtic's win over Shakhter Karagandy his greatest achievement in soccer.
Celtic took down the Kazakhstan squad 3-0 in the second leg of the Champions League playoff after trailing 2-0 after the first game.
The team desperately needed two goals to tie the aggregate and force extra time. After 45 minutes it looked the team would be in for a frustrating second half, but a gorgeous strike from Kris Commons gave the team hope. Minutes into the second half, Georgios Samaras scored the equalizer and the match was wide open. In stoppage time, James Forrest scored the game winner to clinch a spot for Celtic.
"It's the greatest thing I've ever done in football," said Lennon, according to BBC. "We came into this with no real help, which makes it even more remarkable what we have achieved tonight."
Regarding the loss in the opening leg, Lennon said he was disappointed by the negative press the club received.
"I wouldn't say they had a bad night last week. They just didn't take their chances," he said. "And yet the hysteria afterwards was disgusting. It may have come from some quarters of the media, it may have come from some quarters of our own support ... But the knee-jerk reaction to one average performance is baffling to me and it just makes the job impossible at times."
He reaped tons of praise on Anthony Stokes who broke down three defenders leading up to the Forrest winner.
"Wonderful piece of skill from Stokes, who I thought did really well to last the course of the game considering he hasn't played for a little while," added Lennon. "And James Forrest, who for some reason a section of our support can't take to, I don't know why because he's one of the best players to have played for this club for a long time.
"I thought he was brilliant tonight and he comes up with a goal that's worth its weight in gold for us."
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