2016-08-13: Celtic 0-2 Inter Milan, Friendly

Goals:Eder 45, Candreva 71

Both teams spurned opportunities to make the breakthrough before Eder headed the Nerazzurri ahead seconds before the half-time whistle.

The Scottish champions were on top early in the second half and only the width of the crossbar denied Nadir Ciftci a leveller.

And that proved costly as Candreva sealed the victory for the Italian giants with 19 minutes left on the clock, chipping over the stranded Leo Fasan, who produced a number of excellent saves throughout the match.

Along with naming the big defender in his starting XI, Brendan Rodgers gave several players who have been on the fringes of the first team in recent weeks a chance to impress, while a selection of Development Squad players were named on the bench.

Frank de Boer, meanwhile, in his first game in charge of the Nerazzurri, had named a strong side, including the likes of Mauro Icardi, Eder, Ivan Perisic and Geoffrey Kondogbia.

And it was the Serie A side who threatened first inside the opening three minutes when Perisic broke clear down the left and cut the ball back for Ever Banega, whose ferocious shot was brilliantly saved by Fasan.

Celtic, however, soon settled into proceedings and began to string some passes together, and a powerful run from Ciftci, who captained the side, forced Andrea Rannochia into a foul, preventing the striker from breaking clear down the right.

Fasan had to make another smart stop from the lively Perisic in the 12th minute, but the Hoops were growing in confidence and Inter keeper Samir Handanovic was called into action for the first time by Ryan Christie’s low shot from 20 yards after he had collected a return pass from Ciftci.

Both then teams came close to opening the scoring. First, Stefan Johansen cleared Andrea Ranocchia’s header off the line in the 25th minute and then at the other end, Ciftci’s exquisite flick sent Stuart Armstrong through on goal but he couldn’t beat Handanovic.

As the half wore on, the game was opening up and Kristoffer Ajer had to made a timely tackle on Icardi after the Argentina internationalist has fastened onto a ball over the top, while Fasan also had to make saves from Eder and Kondogbia.

Despite this setback, Celtic, who had introduced 16-year-old Jack Aitchison from the bench for the closing stages, continued to persevere and the ever-willing Christie tried his luck twice to no avail, with Armstrong having the last effort of an entertaining friendly.

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Brendan Rodgers admits he would have preferred to play a Scottish Premiership game yesterday, instead of a glamour friendly with Inter Milan in Ireland.

Celtic warmed up for their Champions League play-off with Hapoel Be’er Sheva with a 2-0 defeat by the Italians in Limerick, as part of the International Champions Cup.

Flares are let off during the Inter v Celtic International Champions Cup match in Limerick. Picture: Niall Carson/PA Wire

Flares are let off during the Inter v Celtic International Champions Cup match in Limerick. Picture: Niall Carson/PA Wire

Rodgers left the majority of his first team starters in Glasgow, where the club had been scheduled to play Partick Thistle in league action, a fixture that was controversially postponed.

“We’ve played about seven games in 20-odd days, so it was the perfect preparation for us,” Rodgers said. “But my own feeling, coming up to Scotland is I don’t think we should be playing a friendly. That’s my personal take on it. The league has started, we should be playing competitive football.

“We had a lot of friendlies already… to come here commercially it’s great, for the fans it great, we travel the world and we want to take the team around, but from a football perspective, I’d rather be playing a competition.

“The players back home, though, they have played midweek, weekend, so to get an opportunity to recover is good. They worked really hard on Saturday morning, they weren’t sitting on their holiday, they’re getting ready for Wednesday.”

New Inter Milan manager Frank De Boer. Picture: Niall Carson/PA Wire

New Inter Milan manager Frank De Boer. Picture: Niall Carson/PA Wire

Most of the players expected to play on Wednesday night didn’t even make it to Glasgow Airport’s departure lounge with Scott Sinclair, Kolo Toure, Craig Gordon, Scott Brown, Leigh Griffiths, Kieran Tierney, Patrick Roberts, Moussa Dembele, Nir Bitton, Tom Rogic, Callum McGregor and James Forrest left behind.

As a sign of his growing importance to the Celtic squad, even Eoghan O’Connell was left in Scotland, missing the opportunity to play on the ground that made his cousin Paul a Munster rugby legend.

All told, Stuart Armstrong and Saidy Janko were the only players starting who also started against Astana ten days ago.

There was a welcome return to action for Dedryck Boyata, the centre half, playing alongside the 19-year-old academy product Jamie McCart.

Kirstoffer Ajer covered in front of the back four, with Liam Henderson and Stefan Johansen supporting Armstrong, Ryan Christie and captain for the day Nadir Ciftci in attack.

Despite the mix and match nature of the Celtic side, the first half was relatively interesting, with some of Rodgers’ fringe stars impressing. Leo Fasan, in goal, showed he’s up for a fight following the arrival of Dorus de Vries, with a solid first half performance blotted only by Eder’s headed goal.

The 22-year-old did well to deny Ever Banega with a strong one-arm save just two minutes in, and denied Ivan Perisic moments later after a miscommunication with Boyata.

The experienced Inter midfield enjoyed the better of the first half play, but Rodgers will have been impressed by how Liam Henderson and Kristoffer Ajer grew into the challenge.

Fasan punched clear a thumping effort by Eder as the break approached, and it looked set to end scoreless until naive defending at a set piece cost Celtic, with Eder nipping in ahead of Janko at the back post to nod home.