Bhoys need to rediscover

YESTERDAY morning Neil Lennon took his Celtic players to Lisbon's Estadio Nacional — scene of the club's famous 1967 European Cup final triumph over Inter Milan — hoping that it would inspire them. It didn't. As brilliant as they were in the victory over Barcelona in the previous Champions League group game, they were brittle in the Stadium of Light last night.

Defensively sound when facing the magic of Messi, Iniesta and Xavi, they were sloppy at critical times in Portugal.

Benfica were simply too slick, too strong and too speedy for them in mind and body.

The scoreline read 2-1 to the home side at the finish, but the margin between the teams was much greater than that.

Benfica hit the crossbar, had an effort cleared off the line, missed some terrific chances and were denied on several occasions by goalkeeper Fraser Forster, who not for the first time in the competition, excelled between the sticks.

He was one of the few players in the visiting ranks to emerge with any credit.

Celtic have been really impressive in Europe this season delivering disciplined performances with a touch of genuine quality thrown in for good measure, but they were completely outfought, out thought and outclassed last night.

On the upside for Lennon and his team they are not out of the competition and still have another chance to qualify for the knock-