Celtic can still take “lots of positives” out of their friendly with Ajax despite losing 5-1, says Brendan Rodgers, although the manager stressed it is “also a reminder of the work we still have to do”.

The match in Italy was the semi-final of the Como Cup and Celtic will now face Asian Champions League winners Al-Ahli in a third-fourth play-off on Saturday.

“I don’t think it was a 5-1 game,” Rodgers told Celtic TV. “For the first 60 minutes of the game, we were very good and the third goal we gave away.

“But we had lots of really good moments – scored one but should have had more.

“The goal we scored was very, very good – then, I felt, in the last 30 minutes of the game, we gave the ball away far too easily and we lost out in too many duels.”

Rodgers suggested that fatigue from pre-season training had played its part as the Dutch side rattled in three goals in the final 30 minutes.

“So we can see the players are working very hard and they’re getting leggy in some of the games because we are pushing them in training,” he said.

“Sometimes you get that and then the two goals right at the end are disappointing because they’re shots from outside the box that we should do better with.

“But, overall, lots of positives from it but also a reminder of the work we still have to do.”

Al-Ahli, instead of hosts Como, will now be Celtic’s final pre-season opponents before they begin their defence of the Scottish title.

“They have quality players – players who are individually very good,” Rodgers said of the Saudi Arabian side. “They spent a lot of money on top players, so that will be a very good game.

“That’s why we came out. No matter how it turned out, we were going to get two really good games.”

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