CELTIC fell to defeat at the hands of hosts Lyon in their second match in the Veolia tournament, with former Celt Moussa Dembele coming back to haunt the under-strength Scottish champions.

Dembele headed Lyon in front early on before Memphis Depay gave the hosts a two-goal lead prior to the break.

Moi Elyounoussi came off the bench along with a raft of first teamers to score a well-taken late consolation for Celtic.

Celtic manager Neil Lennon opted to send out the ‘reserve’ XI that finished their last game against Nice on Thursday evening with the exception of goalkeeper Scott Bain, as Patryk Klimala led the attack after his first goal for the club in that game, and Olivier Ntcham captained a youthful line-up.

Lyon, on the other hand, went with a strong starting set-up, with former Celtic stars Jason Denayer and £25m man Dembele restored to the line-up alongside the likes of Depay following their own defeat to Rangers on Thursday night.

The early signs were alarming for Celtic with Lyon players finding space at will, and it didn’t take Dembele long to remind the Celtic supporters what they are missing, bulleting home a free header from six yards within four minutes after Marcelo picked him out with a deep cross.

The shaky start perhaps wasn’t a surprise given the make-up of the Celtic side, but the visitors settled and almost drew level after quarter of an hour after Klimala was fouled on the edge of the box. Ntcham’s strike from the free-kick took a deflection off the wall and ricocheted to safety off the inside of the post.

Klimala was looking lively in these opening stages, and he got the wrong side of Denayer and Marcelo to latch onto a Karamoko Dembele through ball before tumbling to the ground and being awarded a penalty by the referee.

VAR though went against Celtic for the second game in a row as the replays showed the foul by Marcelo was outside the box, although at least this time, the technology got it right. Bitton’s free-kick came off the wall to safety.

Just as Celtic were having their best spell though, they were cut open as Dubois got in behind Boli Bolingoli and found Depay’s run across the front post, and the Dutchman produced a sublime flick to finish past the helpless Bain to give the hosts a two-goal cushion at the break.

The same combination almost had the game out of sight after the re-start, but this time Depay slammed the right-back’s cut-back off the face of the bar from close range.

As was the case during the week, the hour-mark brought wholesale changes, although this time it was the first string that entered the fray for Celtic.

There were those among the fringe stars who did themselves real credit during the hour they were on the field, but the difference in intent and intensity was immediately apparent, with Elyounoussi getting a shot on target after a neat interchange on the edge of the area.

Lyon upped their own game in response, but just as the match looked to be petering out, Elyounoussi made his mark.

The Norwegian picked up the ball after drifting off the left flank, running directly at the Lyon defence at pace and sitting Marcelo down before reversing a fine finish past Lopes to give the score a respectable sheen.

Celtic now go on to face French champions Paris Saint Germain on Tuesday evening as their preparations continue to ramp up for the start of the season, and manager Lennon will no doubt be pleased with what he gleaned from this tournament ahead of the tougher challenges yet to come.