The broken jaw suffered by Dylan McGeouch – who will head straight to the Southern General Hospital to have a plate fitted when he returns to Glasgow today – and injury concerns over strikers Gary Hooper, Anthony Stokes and Daryl Murphy meant Celtic left Philly battered and bruised.
But even this could not dilute Lennon's belief the SPL cham-pions would benefit from the Transatlantic trip. He said: "You can pick up these injuries in training. With Dylan, that could happen at any time.
"For me, it's been good to play these friendlies. The likes of Dylan needed a game. It was also important for Beram Kayal, Lukasz Zaluska and for Kelvin Wilson.
"Although it wasn't a competitive game, it was a chance for them to get another 90 minutes under their belt, and they will feel a lot, lot better for it.
"Unfortunately, Dylan's injury put a bit of a dampener on it for everyone, but we are delighted he has been allowed to come back to Glasgow with us.
"He will be out for four to six weeks."
In the sweltering heat of Philly, Stokes suffered a recurrence of his ankle problem in the warm-up, while Murphy preceded McGeouch in leaving the field early after the striker felt pain in a hamstring.
With Hooper not even getting stripped as he had reported a tightness in his hamstrings the night before the friendly – which Madrid won 2-0 – and Scott Brown, James Forrest and Paddy McCourt staying in Glasgow to receive injections in hip and groin problems, the treatment room is much too busy for Lennon's liking ahead of one of the most demanding fortnights the club will face this season.
They play away games at Ross County, Helsingborgs then Inverness, before facing the Swedes in the return leg of their Champions League play-off tie.
Lennon and Hooper expect the club's top scorer to be fit and available by the time they head to Dingwall this weekend, but the manager has already accepted Brown, Forrest and McCourt will be missing.
So, the return on Thursday of Ki Sung-Yueng after he picked up an Olympic bronze medal with South Korea is warmly welcomed by Lennon, who was forced to throw in teenagers Marcus Fraser and Callum McGregor against Madrid.
"Ki will be back this week, and that's a huge bonus for us," said the manager.
"He'll be fit and will not need any extra work, and it will be like having a new player come into the squad."
