A young Celtic side battled back after conceding an early goal but were ultimately beaten 3-1 by a strong Benfica outfit as the teams met in the Canadian National Exhibition Cup in Toronto.

The Parkhead outfit were still trying to come to terms with playing on Astroturf when their Portuguese opponents took the lead after just three minutes. Benfica broke down the right with Nelson Oliviera getting past Andy Hinkel and hitting the post before Keirrison pounced on the loose ball and slotted home.

Despite the setback, Tony Mowbray's side responded with Danny Fox testing the Benfica keeper and Paddy McCourt relentlessly running at the defence.

Paul McGowan chased every ball up front and four seconds into injury time at the end of the first half, the 21-year-old got his reward. McCourt caused problems for Benfica allowing Mark Wilson to get in a shot which hit the post with Bellshill-born McGowan outmuscling his marker to slot home.

McCourt then hit the bar from almost 30 yards as Celtic attacked with purpose, but Benfica re-took the lead 13 minutes into the second half when Hinkel was caught in possession and Ruben Pinto fired the ball past Dominic Cervi.

Javier Saviola then hit the post before the same player wrapped up victory a quarter of an hour from time when he tapped home after Cervi failed to hold on to a shot.