With Rennes set to start their Europa League with a meeting against Celtic, Julien Stéphan has stated that the Celtic are a more fierce prospect under Neil Lennon than 12 months ago.

The Celtic team last season was led by Brendan Rodgers as they made it through to the Knockout stages. However, Stephan is convinced that the Hoops have tooled up again under Lennon and they will be fighting it out with Lazio to top the group.

While addressing the media concerning his team match against the Scottish Champion, Stephan noted that the group that his team found themselves is a totally different group from last year – thinking it’s a stronger team which are used to winning their national championship very regularly, every year almost adding that It’s a very big team with lots of experience at our level and with lots of international players.

The Celtic team under Neil Lennon is blessed with qualities and talented players. With this in mind, Stephan noted that the Celtic team can play in the air with technical players like Callum McGregor, Ryan Christie, James Forrest and Odsonne Edouard just to mention a few.

With the qualities of players and manager of the Celtic side, He (Stephan) stated that the Scottish club is one of the favourites as far as experience goes as they should be able to perform well, maybe just behind Lazio.

The Rennes team, which have had some notable departure this season, have already defeated Paris Saint-Germain and will be hoping for a win against Celtic.

The game between Rennes and Celtic is available at 1.96 to finish with over 2.5 goals, while the total number of goals finishing at under 2.5 goals is backed at 1.86.