MOHAMED Elyounoussi said Celtic can take many positives from their 2-2 draw away to Lille on Thursday night and added that the performance from the players will serve as a great confidence boost ahead of Sunday’s Scottish Cup semi-final.

Neil Lennon’s side looked back to their best as they outplayed their opponents in the first half to go in 2-0 ahead at the break thanks to a brace from Elyounoussi. The French side rallied in the second half and managed two goals to deny the Scottish champions all three points.

Elyounoussi said Celtic were disappointed not to have taken all the points but remained upbeat as he reflected on the impressive performance and continuous improvements from the team.

“We had a good performance but, in the end, it wasn’t enough,” said the 26-year-old. “We’re disappointed, especially with us leading 2-0 and then conceding two easy goals.

“Obviously there is criticism when we don’t win games but we always stick together. There are a lot of good things to take out of the game and our performance. We’re not happy with just one point but if you asked me before the game, I would have been happy with a point. The way we played and with the reaction we showed after the Aberdeen game, we deserved the three points.

“I’m always confident, I always believe in the players here. We’re not here to participate, we’re here to compete and I think we can go far in this competition. It would have been better with three points but we’ll go again next week.”

The first goal came as a result of Celtic’s high press which saw Albian Ajeti dispossess Zeki Çelik and release Elyounoussi with a clever backheel. The Norwegian left the Lille keeper helpless with an exquisite curling effort from around 20 yards out.

Elyounoussi doubled the lead just after the half-hour mark with another fine finish to steer Jeremie Frimpong’s drilled pass across goal and beyond the keeper.

“I was determined to score the first goal,” said Elyounoussi. “I knew where the goal was and I knew what I was going to do. They are the things you practice in training and it’s nice to see you can score in the games. For the second goals, it was a good counter-attack from us, a switch of play and a good cross from Jeremie. I knew where the ball was and I hit the ball wide towards the far corner. It’s always good to see those go in.

“I could have killed the game in the second half. I should have just gone for it like I did in the first half. I could have scored more goals so that’s a little bit disappointing but Lille are a good team and one point is well-deserved for both teams.”

Elyounoussi: Display against Lille showed our confidence