Samaras cautious on Champions League chances

Georgios Samaras would love to return to the Champions League but is cautious about Celtic’s chances ahead of today’s fourth round draw.

Neil Lennon’s side will be paired against Helsingborgs, Cluj, Maribor, Israel’s Hapoel Kiryat Shmona or AEL Limassol from Cyprus.

Samaras and Scott Brown are the only players from the current squad to have played in the Champions League with the Greek knowing how special the tournament is.

“We will watch the draw on Friday but it almost doesn’t matter who we get because our chances will be 50-50” Samaras claimed.

“We just have to do our best to get into the Champions League. If not then we are still in Europe, but it’s the Champions League that we want.

“I know what it’s like to play at Celtic Park for those kind of games. It is absolutely fantastic and that’s my aim.

“I also want the other lads who have not experienced it to see what it is like because it really is something special.

“We can only do our best to get there and will have a better idea when we know the team we’re going to play to get there.

“It would just be terrific for the young players. We are a young team, really young, and that is where we want to be together.”

Compared to previous seasons when there has been half a dozen or more new arrivals the current Celtic squad is fairly settled with Samaras believing that is an advantage.

He added: “This is our third season together and there are not many players coming or going, a few players have gone out.

“We have been the same squad for some time now and I think what Lenny has done in that time is really, really good given it’s the same group.

“We have the Europa League experience from last year, we won the SPL but we need to go some steps higher now.”

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