Neil Lennon pleased with Celtic's performance against Benfica

Celtic manager Neil Lennon has praised his team after they opened their Champions League campaign with a battling point at home to Benfica.

Neither side was able to break the deadlock as Celtic played their first match in the competition's group stages for four seasons.

Lennon insisted that he was happy with the performance despite failing to earn the victory.

He said: "I am pleased, it was a tough game against a quality side. I thought we coped more than admirably. That's five clean sheets in a row in Europe, we have to take something from that.

"I thought we had more of a cutting edge before half time, but it improves as we go on. It's going to be difficult away, the away leg is always a different beast.

"Qualifying will be very difficult from this group, but it's always hard in Champions League football."

Celtic travel to Russia to face Spartak Moscow in their next European match on Tuesday, October 2.