Promising pre-season continues for Celtic

Celtic maintained their promising pre-season form with a 2-0 victory over Rennes on Saturday.

The Scottish champions have now won six of seven fixtures since reconvening for the new campaign, including home and away triumphs over Stjarnan in the qualifying stages of the UEFA Champions League.

And, in their last friendly before the Scottish Premiership kicks off on August 1, Celtic picked up a win courtesy of goals from Leigh Griffiths and Gary Mackay-Steven.

Charlie Mulgrew forced Benoit Costil into a good save from a 30-yard free-kick after 10 minutes, before Griffiths broke the deadlock two minutes later with a superb solo effort.

The Scotland striker cut in from the right wing before creating an angle in the box and firing home.

The home fans did not have to wait long for a second, as Mackay-Steven applied the finish to a Stuart Armstrong throughball 10 minutes later.

Despite enjoying their fair share of possession, Rennes were unable to truly test goalkeeper Craig Gordon, although replacement Leonardo Fasan had to be on his guard to keep out an Ola Toivonen header after 73 minutes.

Fasan again denied Toivonen with another good save late on and victory belonged to Celtic, who host Qarabag in the first leg of their Champions League third qualifying round tie on Wednesday.