Aston Villa v Celtic – “We set out to win the game,” Brendan Rodgers

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Brendan Rodgers spoke to the media this evening at Villa Park ahead of tonight’s final group stage match in the Champions League between two former European Champions…

Brendan Rodgers
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers during the UEFA Champions League training on January 28, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Q: Do you have a squad update for us?

Brendan Rodgers: “Yeah, Cameron Carter-Vickers is out of the game, he’ll be okay for the weekend, we’re pretty sure, but he just felt something in the last game, so no need to risk him. James Forrest is still out, but apart from that, we’re okay.”

Q: Talk to us about the emotions and the excitement ahead of this one?

Brendan Rodgers:  “Yeah, it’s a brilliant game. Listen, for us, it’s a great achievement to be in the top 24, I think, if you look at the economics of it all and at this level. For the players, they’ve been fantastic, they’ve stayed with the idea, they’ve worked very, very hard and what we set out to do, which was to firstly arrive in the play-offs, the players have done that, so it’s great. But our job’s not complete in this series of eight games, we come here to a great venue against a fantastic team, but we want to come and play to the level that we know we can do, so we’re really looking forward to it.”

Unai Emery, Manager of Aston Villa
Unai Emery, Manager of Aston Villa speaks to the media ahead of the match with Celtic in the UEFA Champions League at Bodymoor Heath training ground on January 28, 2025. (Photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images)

Q: What sort of challenges are you expecting tomorrow night against Unai Emery’s team?

Brendan Rodgers:  “Firstly, I think Unai has done a brilliant job here, I’ve never obviously spoken about that, but I think it’s testament to the job he’s done since he’s come in. His body of work over many years has been top class, but you can see here that he feels wanted, he feels appreciated and you see what he’s doing with the players in the league and what they’ve done in the Champions League this season. So, we know that we’re playing against his team, which is a very, very good side, very strong in counter-attack, defend very, very well, got some brilliant players, but it’s a challenge that we’re looking forward to.

Q: Kyogo’s now away from the club, obviously, how does that impact things for you from now going forward?

Brendan Rodgers: “Clearly, again, he’s been a real iconic player for the club, he’s done absolutely brilliant in his time, so it’s about getting a replacement. I think I’ve made that clear, he’s a player that has done a great job, he wanted to leave, we have to move on from that and now we have to look to the next player to come in.”

Q: Are you confident that that will happen?

Brendan Rodgers:  “Well, there’s a lot of work going on behind the scenes. Like I said, we’ve known for a number of months what it was going to look like. Clearly, we wouldn’t have wanted to have sold him, certainly not at this point, but he made it clear he wanted to move and when that’s the case, then we have to find the best solution for the club. The club will work very hard and we’ll look to get in an able replacement.”

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About Author

A current third year student studying History and Journalism, Media and Communications at the University of Strathclyde and now writing regularly about the Hoops for The Celtic Star.

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