French lesson for shadow squad but boss is happy
FOLLOWING the bedlam of Belfast, a low-key friendly in front of a sparse Parkhead crowd saw a shadow and inexperienced Celtic squad succumb to a slick second-half show from the French.
Brendan Rodgers handed new signings Olivier Ntcham, Jonny Hayes and Kundai Benyu starts, then flooded the side with youth as the game wore on, giving Lyon the go-ahead to grab goals.
Celtic, with skipper Nir Bitton partnered at centrehalf by Kristoffer Ajer, failed to capitalise on a dominant first period but there were no complaints from Rodgers about what was chiefly a fitness exercise.
He said: ‘We got what we wanted out of it in terms of fitness for our players. We could very easily not have played the game after the Linfield one was moved.
‘But I’ve a responsibility to get as many of my players as fit as we can for the beginning of the season and throughout the season. For that, it was a great exercise.
‘For the first hour, I thought we were excellent against a good side. You could see the tempo and rhythm of their good players.
‘But in the first half some of our combination play and speed was excellent. We should have gone in front.
‘Once we make the changes it becomes a little bit broken and the level in our quality changes.
‘But for the senior ones like Nir, Callum McGregor, Olivier, Hayes, Moussa Dembele getting game time, it was great and Beni did really well.’
Benyu, 19, was the standout Celtic player. The lively newcomer was denied by a block on the line by Jeremy Morel midway through the first half and nifty footwork carved out a chance well gathered by second half keeper Mathieu Gorgelin.
Fourth in Ligue 1 last season, Lyon boasted £24million Manchester United flop Memphis Depay. Named the best young player in the world in 2015, he featured for only the first 45 minutes.
Lyon were more threatening without him, scoring all four past teenage keeper Conor Hazard, who replaced Dorus de Vries at the break.
Hazard produced a fine save from Bertrand Traore only for Maxwel Cornet to bury the rebound on 52 minutes.
Myziane Maolida slalomed through Celtic challenges to convert a splendid solo goal just after the hour before Rodgers started making outfield changes.
The inexperience of the Celtic line-up then began to take its toll. On 79 minutes, Nabil Fekir scored a third.
Amine Gouiri went on the gallop again, powerfully bursting through the centre of Celtic’s defence to score the French side’s fourth goal.