Neil Lennon satisfied with committed Celtic performance against Benfica

Neil Lennon was taking charge of his first group stage match as Celtic manager.SNS Group

Neil Lennon has said that he is content with taking a draw from Celtic's first Champions League Group G match against Benfica.

The Celtic manager saw his side play a hard-fought match in which clear scoring chances were few and far between. He said that despite having set out to take maximum points he felt his side had performed well.

An energetic and disciplined display from the Scottish champions kept pre-match favourites Benfica at bay and Lennon was happy to reflect on what his team had achieved, rather than dwell on a lack of cutting edge in attack.

"I think a draw was a fair result," he said.

"We didn’t work the goalkeeper as much as we would liked but saying that was very pleased with the team."

Several set-piece opportunities for Celtic in the first half failed to yield a goal but with Benfica showing their quality in spells, Lennon pointed out that his players were gaining valuable experience.

"It was a decent start for us," he said. "It could have been better but we are learning as we are going along.

"Ideally, you want to win your home games but there are a lot of positives to take out the game.

"We move forward with confidence."

Celtic's next match in the group is in Moscow, who fell to a 3-2 defeat at Barcelona in their opening match.

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