Neil Lennon names two Celtic players who were ‘outstanding’ versus AC Milan

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Neil Lennon paid tribute to the “outstanding” performances of Diego Laxalt and Albian Ajeti during Celtic’s 3-1 Europa League home defeat to AC Milan on Thursday night, speaking to BT Sport.

This time last week the Hoops were gearing up for one of the most exciting weeks in recent memory.

But it’s fair to say the air of optimism has dissipated after a limp 2-0 loss to Rangers in the Old Firm derby was followed up by another Parkhead setback.

Thanks to two first-half goals from Rade Krunic and Brahim Diaz, Italian giants AC Milan extended their unbeaten run to 21 games last night.

Celtic once again struggled to mark the occasion with the performance it deserved, even if Moi Elyounoussi’s second-half header threatened to spark an unexpected comeback before Jens Petter Hauge’s stoppage-time clincher.

However, Celtic manager Lennon was still able to see the positives at full-time.

“I thought we deserved something out of the game against a very good team,” the under-fire Irishman explains.

“We were more like ourselves in the second half but we just lacked the cutting edge. We started the game quite brightly but gave away two soft goals.

“I thought Ajeti was outstanding, Diego Laxalt was outstanding, Ajer did well. I thought there were some good performances out there.”

Ajeti certainly led the line well in the absence of the injured Odsonne Edouard, causing Milan’s defence problems with his rugged physicality.

Left-back Laxalt, meanwhile, was a picture of promise against his parent club, offering the kind of attacking dynamism not seen in that position since Kieran Tierney departed for Arsenal.