TORONTO - A young, inexperienced Celtic team was no match for Benfica, but the Scottish side's assistant manager liked what he saw from his makeshift squad coping with the loss of most of its regulars to international duty.
Portuguese power Benfica used second-half goals by Ruben Pinto and Javier Saviola in a 3-1 exhibition win over Celtic before 16,912 fans at BMO Field on Wednesday.
Benfica used more of its regular players than Celtic, whose website referred to the team that came to Toronto as "a skeleton Celtic squad, one missing some 13 internationals, who are all on duty with their respective countries."
"I think that was the most pleasing part of the game," said Celtic assistant manager Mark Venus who handled the team for the friendly.
"They had a lot of experience against us and they brought a lot of their team over and I thought they young boys we had on the team they coped great with it and put a great show on. I think it should be a great benefit for them in the future."
Keirrison also scored for Benfica in the third minute as Benfica won the CNE Cup. Paul McGowan replied in the 45th minute for Celtic.
With many of the regulars committed to their national teams for World Cup qualifying matches, and the fact that the teams had played regular league matches a few days earlier, the line-ups had more the look of a reserve match.
But the result was a spirited match in which Celtic, which started only one regular, Andreas Hinkel, had the better of play early in the second half but had only a hit crossbar to show for it before Benfica's experience won out.
Benfica midfielder Angel Di Maria, who played at BMO Field for Argentina's championship team at the FIFA Under-20 World Cup two years ago, was the best player on the pitch. He set up Pinto's goal and also set up plays that resulted in a shot just wide and a hit post.
"He's an excellent footballer," Venus said. "It's the first time I've seen him live. I was totally impressed by him, everything he did. He was elusive, he was quick. He is a special talent."
Both teams were well-supported by the crowd.
"I thought the atmosphere was excellent," Venus said. "Both teams had some great support. They all made a noise. I thought it was a great night, I really enjoyed it. I had a great time."
Benfica opened the scoring the third minute when Keirrison knocked in the rebound after Nelson Oliveira hit the post to Dom Cervi's right. Cervi is the U.S.-born goalkeeper who was getting a chance at some game action in the friendly.
The teams went into halftime tied 1-1 McGowan's goal.
Celtic came close to taking the lead early in the second half but Patrick McCourt's drive hit the crossbar to the relief of goalkeeper Julio Cesar.
Pinto's goal, on a pass from Di Maria, in the 58th minute put Benfica into the lead.
In the 69th minute, Di Maria was again active, setting up Saviola who hit the post.
Saviola came through in the 72nd minute to make it 3-1 when he put home a rebound left by Cervi after he stopped a shot from outside the penalty area.
Keirrison, a forward, has played in one game this season so far with Benfica while others in Wednesday's starting lineup to see regular-season action for Benfica were defensive midfielder Javi Garcia and midfielder Di Maria who have played in three games each and defender Jose Shaffer who has played in two.
Forward Saviola who replaced Oliveira in the 63rd minute also has played three regular-league games for Benfica this season.
World Cup qualifiers are being played later in the week.
Lucas Santonocito and Anton Kurakins started for the first time with the first team, with other youngsters James Forrest and Krisjanis Vallers opening Wednesday's match on the bench set to make their first-team debuts. Forrest entered in the 70th minute.
Josh Thompson, an 18-year-old defender signed from Stockport County last month, also started on Wednesday.
Oklahoma-born Cervi was signed this summer. He was drafted 12th overall in the 2008 Major League Soccer draft from the University of Tulsa.
"He needs to play some more games of football, " Venus said. "I don't think he's played a lot of first-team football in the last couple of years. I think it showed at times but I think he did a lot of good things."
Notes: Celtic and Benfica last met in the 2007 UEFA Champions League. Each team won 1-0 at home. Benfica played a league game on Monday, beating Vitoria Setubal 8-1. Garcia and Di Maria started that game.Celtic beat Hibernian 1-0 on Sunday.Silvu Petresco was the referee for Wednesday's match.
