Former Celtic loanee Timothy Weah has revealed what was said inside the Lille dressing room at half-time that inspired his side to come back from two goals down at home.

Moi Elyounoussi struck a brilliant double in France yesterday evening to give Celts a 2-0 lead at the break but the Ligue 1 outfit rallied to earn a point thanks to goals from Mehmet Celik and Nanitamo Ikone.

Weah, who came off the bench in the second-half, explained how a message of calm from coach Christophe Galtier helped his side put things right after the restart. And the American praised ex-Liverpool defender Jose Fonte for his words of encouragement.

"It was a little bit weird for us, we're not used to starting the games down," Weah said at full-time. "All the games we've played so far we've been the first team to score and we've come out with the win so it was a little bit of a shock for us getting the first goal scored and then the second as well.

"But I feel like after half-time we came back into the locker room, listened to what the coach said and he told us to stay calm and play our game. We have to go out there and fight because we can still get two or three goals and we got the two. That was really good and I'm proud of the boys and of what we did.

"We have a group of fighters. A great group led by José [Fonte] . Even when he's not on the pitch, he's very important to us in the dressing room. He wasn't playing today but on and off the pitch, he's a bit like a father figure to me. He's one of the oldest in the team, he's our captain and our leader. 

"His voice in the locker room is super important. He was there at half-time to tell us that we needed to refocus, to keep our heads up and that's what the boys did."

Weah had his loan deal cut short at Parkhead by Neil Lennon after refusing to play for the club in the Scottish Cup final in 2019.

Celtic and USA Under-20 manager Tab Ramos had agreed a compromise which would have enabled the then-19-year-old striker to play for his country and assist Celtic in their quest for an historic treble treble. But Weah opted to remain with his international colleagues which was deemed a lack of commitment by the Hoops boss.