Source: Team_Talk
Friendly defeat satisfies Venus
Dominic Cervi, Anton Kurakins, Josh Thomson, Luca Santonocito, James Forrest and Kris Vallers all made their Hoops debuts in the Canadian National Exhibition Cup match, which took place at the BME Stadium in the early hours of the morning UK time.
The game also marked the return of injury-plagued full-back Mark Wilson, who had been out for almost six months.
Trailing to a Keirrison strike, Celtic equalised through Paul McGowan on the stroke of half-time.
But they gifted Ruben Pinto a goal just before the hour mark before former Barcelona striker Javier Saviola came off the bench to net his side's third after Dom Cervi spilled a long-range shot.
Celtic assistant manager Venus, in charge of the side in Tony Mowbray's absence, told his club's website: "I took a great deal from the game, a lot of positives if truth be told.
"We fielded an inexperienced team against an experienced side and, barring two mistakes, we gave Benfica a real test.
"I really enjoyed the game and I took a lot of positives. At times, we were very good and I really enjoyed it.
"We were disappointed to give away some soft goals, but our youngsters were up against some great players and they did well against them.
"They held their own and to get the chance to 'feel' what it's like to be on the park against these Benfica players is the most important thing for their development."
Another real plus point was the return of Wilson, who played in midfield and captained Celtic during a 75-minute run-out.
Venus said: "Mark was great and the only reason we brought him off was to protect him. We'll see how he is in the morning, but I thought he did well.
"Mark is an important player in the squad. You want guys available to share the workload. It's good to have another player fit and available for selection."
Meanwhile, Rapid Vienna has confirmed they had switched their Europa League home clash with Celtic to Austria's national stadium after claiming to have received more than 100,000 ticket requests.
Vienna took on Aston Villa at their 20,000-seater Hanappi Stadium in the play-off round but will host the Hoops at the 50,000-capacity Ernst Happel Stadium on December 2.
