Brendan Rodgers says he wants to emulate Neil Lennon's Champions League exploits and bring the good times back to Celtic Park after a chat with the former boss, writes Craig Turnbull.

Rodgers met with the former Hoops boss to tap into his knowledge before their crucial Champions League play-off clash against Israeli champions Hapoel Be'er Sheva.

Lennon enjoyed some "wonderful experiences", according to Rodgers, after overcoming the play-offs and beating Barcelona to reach the last 16 of the competition in 2012/2013.

And, after gaining an insight from Lennon, Rodgers hopes to return Celtic to Europe's premier club competition after two failed attempts under predecessor Ronny Deila.

"Neil and I had a nice meal and many things came up in the conversation," he said.

"He's obviously been here at the club and understands the importance of Champions League football.

"It was nice to hear from his side.

"He obviously had some wonderful experiences here and in my time here we are hopeful of having similar and creating many good memories for the supporters and the players.

"It would give me extreme pleasure to lead this club into the group stages. We'll get a taster of the Champions League music tomorrow and just pulling up outside the ground today I sensed the buzz.

"We're a club that is synonymous around the world with the European Cup, so these ties are very important to us as a club having not been in it for a few years."

Rodgers says he knows how important Champions League football is to the supporters because of his relationship with the club.

"It's obviously a very unique position for myself because I'm a supporter who stepped out of the stands and on to the side of the field," he said.

"But I'm also professional and I want to get the players and the club back into an environment where I think it is renowned around European football as a wonderful stage for players to play in - both Celtic players and opponents.

"And of course I want to do it for the supporters.

"It's a huge club which deserves to be at that level and all we promise is we respect there are people coming from all around the world to support Celtic.

"We will do everything we possibly can to make that dream come true."

Celtic welcome back Eric Sviatchenko to the squad after recovering from a groin injury, but the match has come too soon for Dedryck Boyata and Patrick Roberts.

Dorus de Vries will miss both legs, meaning Craig Gordon will start in goal.