Mark Venus today insisted there were plenty of "positives" to be taken from Celtic's 3-1 friendly defeat by Benfica in Toronto.

Trailing to a Keirrison strike, Celtic equalised through Paul McGowan on the stroke of half-time. But they gifted Ruben Pinto a goal just before the hour mark before former Barcelona striker Javier Saviola came off the bench to net his side's third after Dom Cervi spilled a long-range shot.

Celtic assistant manager Venus, in charge of the side in Tony Mowbray's absence, told his club's website, celticfc.net: "I took a great deal from the game, a lot of positives if truth be told. We fielded an inexperienced team against an experienced side and, barring two mistakes, we gave Benfica a real test."

Dominic Cervi, Anton Kurakins, Josh Thomson, Luca Santonocito, James Forrest and Kris Vallers all made their Hoops debuts in the Canadian National Exhibition Cup match, which took place at the BME Stadium in the early hours of Thursday morning UK time.

The game also marked the return of injury-plagued full-back Mark Wilson, who had been out for almost six months.

"I really enjoyed the game and I took a lot of positives. At times, we were very good and I really enjoyed it," he added.

"We were disappointed to give away some soft goals, but our youngsters were up against some great players and they did well against them.

"They held their own and to get the chance to 'feel' what it's like to be on the park against these Benfica players is the most important thing for their development."

Another real plus point was the return of Wilson, who played in midfield and captained Celtic during a 75-minute run-out.

Venus said: "Mark was great and the only reason we brought him off was to protect him. We'll see how he is in the morning, but I thought he did well. Mark is an important player in the squad. You want guys available to share the workload. It's good to have another player fit and available for selection."