Neil Lennon won't blame Jozo Šimunović for Europa League exit | OneFootball

Celtic manager Neil Lennon refuses to ‘throw anyone under a bus’ after several individual and team errors condemned the Hoops to a 3-1 defeat on the night (4-2 on aggregate) against Copenhagen to see their Europa League run end in the round-of-32 for the third consecutive season.

Jozo Šimunović’s wayward pass allowed Michael Santos to break the deadlock in the 51st minute before Odsonne Edouard levelled the tie on aggregate from the spot in the 83rd minute.

However, the tie would not hang in the balance for much longer as some calamitous allowed the visitors to close out the match with a pair of goals in the next five minutes.

After the match, Lennon wouldn’t point fingers but admitted that he expected his side to put in a much better performance.

“I am not going to throw anyone under a bus. We win as a team and lose as a team,” Lennon said after the match.

“They are a really talented bunch of players but we have left ourselves down.

“I have not spoken to Jozo. I have a duty of care to him, he has come back from a long-term injury and he has been absolutely fantastic.

“Yes, he made a mistake and then we recovered. He didn’t make a mistake for a second goal. If I need to pick him up I will. That’s my job.

“He has been magnificent for me. He made a mistake, he held his hands up and we move on.

“These players have been absolutely brilliant for me, I am not going to sit here and criticise them for mistakes. They deserved better tonight and they didn’t get that. Sometimes football is cruel.

“But when you make individual errors you give the opposition encouragement. They know they have let themselves down a bit.

“We have had a good Europa League run and I am disappointed it ended tonight.”

The loss was Celtic’s first defeat of the new year. They will charge on looking for their fourth consecutive domestic treble and can take a big step on Sunday with a win at St. Johnstone in the Scottish Cup quarter-finals.