Brown celebrated his goal in the face of Rangers' El-Hadji Diouf

Neil Lennon has defended Scott Brown in his war of words with El-Hadji Diouf and backed the Celtic midfielder to be a future captain of Scotland.

New Rangers signing Diouf has accused Brown and Lennon of goading him during Sunday's 2-2 Scottish Cup draw.

"I'll leave Scott to sort that out because he seems to be coping with it very well," said the Celtic manager.

"As he matures more and comes to the peak years of his career, he is a Scotland captain in the making."

Diouf on Monday accused the Celtic captain of trying to get him sent off during the fifth-round tie and he followed that by claiming that Lennon also had words with him in the tunnel at Ibrox.

"I look forward to seeing what he has to say tomorrow," said the Celtic manager. "He seems to have a daily column in the paper.

There is more maturity to his game. He was a wee bit of a rascal Celtic manager Neil Lennon

"He seemed to have a lot to say for himself after the game, but I will leave the taunts out of it.

"He can say what he likes about me and I am not going to get involved in a war of words with him.

"This guy's made things public and Scott's just defending himself. There was a lot went on on the pitch and it wasn't just one-way traffic and I think Scott's handled the situation absolutely brilliantly and with a bit of humour as well."

Brown has been quoted as describing it as the "the best booking of my life".

He had celebrated his equaliser against Rangers with a cold stare in the face of Diouf, who had earlier appeared to revel in jinking several times past the Celtic player's challenges.

"Absolutely nothing wrong with it," said Lennon of his midfielder's reaction to scoring. "And why he got booked is beyond me."

Brown is in the Scotland squad preparing to face Northern Ireland on Wednesday in their opening games in the new Carling Nations Cup in Dublin.

"He has grown into the role here as captain of Celtic and adapted brilliantly to it," said Lennon.

"There is more maturity to his game. He was a wee bit of a rascal. He's still got a wee bit of gallusness in him, but I don't discourage that at all.

"He is a big-game player and doesn't get intimidated very often and can look after himself.

"I think his performances of late have been what we know he is capable of. It is not just the last month or so. But, since I have taken the job, he has been so consistent despite what all the experts think.

"He has practically won every single game he has started and has been a huge player for me."

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