Rodgers admits Hoops should not be in

would rather be competition.”

“But I was really really pleased with that, playing against a real top side with good quality.

“For lots of our young players it was their first 90 minutes and it was the same for some of the senior boys since pre-season.

“I thought it was an excellent performance. We created chances, and we gave them problems.

“A bit of naivety from two young players led to their first goal.

“When they got the second, it was probably a little bit of tiredness when we didn’t reduce the space quick enough from behind.

“We have worked on our

playing

in mentality and our football and it is getting better every day

“We have had about seven games in 20-odd days, so I think this was perfect preparation for Wednesday night.”

In Frank de Boer’s first game in charge of Inter Milan, the Italians found a goal in either half to ensure no winning experience for a youthful Celtic line-up.

While this meeting came on the 50th anniversary season of the Lisbon Lions European Cup win over Inter Milan, it was far removed from that, with just 12,873 inside the 26,000 Thomond Park.

With Wednesday’s UEFA Champions League qualifier against Hapoel Be’er Sheva in mind, Brendan Rodgers sent out a line-up which included just one survivor from last weekend’s opening game of the new Scottish Ladbrokes Premiership against Hearts – Stuart Armstrong. The line-up did see defender Dedryck Boyata end his injury nightmare and returned.

Eager to impress new manager De Boer, it was the Italians who had the best of the early chances.

It was Ryan Christie that brought the Celtic support to life in the 20th minute but his low drive was easily saved by Handanovic.

Slowly Celtic found their feet and Christie was again involved in the 28th minute when a delightful flick from captain on the night, Nadir Ciftci, put Armstrong through, only to be denied by the keeper’s feet.

The final Celtic chance of the half fell to Henderson. Janko did well up the right but when he cut back from the byline, Henderson drove over. But then came the Inter opener. Their fourth corner of the first half saw Eder head into an empty net at the back post after Perisic