Neil Lennon was pleased by the contributions of Scott Robertson and Karamoko Dembele despite Celtic’s 2-0 defeat away to Cluj.
The hoops boss made nine changes to the side that won the League Cup Final on Sunday with Robertson playing the full 90 minutes alongside Olivier Ntcham in central midfield.
The 18-year-old looked very comfortable playing against high quality opponents with Cluj joining Celtic in the Round of 32 draw on Monday.
?? Neil Lennon on @kdembele_10: “We think very highly of him. I wanted to give him some experience. I want to keep him around the team squad because we think he’s a real talent and I wanted to give him a little bit of experience at this level.” #CLUCEL #UEL
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) December 12, 2019
?? Neil Lennon: “Scott Robertson had a terrific debut. Scott’s performance delighted me. I thought it was a superb debut for an 18-year-old to come in and play in that environment so maturely and with a lot of composure.” #CLUCEL #UEL
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) December 12, 2019
Dembele replaced Mikey Johnston in the 72nd minute and became the youngest player to be involved in a European tie for the club.
Celtic reached the interval on level terms but looked slack after the break with Andrei Burca and Damjan Djokovic scoring for the home side in the 48th and 70th minutes.
Cluj will join Celtic in Monday’s draw but the two teams can’t be drawn against each other at this stage, should they progress however they could meet for the third time in Europe this season in the last 16.