Brendan Rodgers was this evening brimming with enthusiasm and anticipation for his Celtic side as they get set to face what could well be the most formidable opponent of the season tomorrow evening in the Westfalenstadion in the Rhineland.
Dortmund made it all the way to the Champions League final last year and were unlucky to lose out in the end to Real Madrid, who don’t lose European finals unless they are playing Aberdeen!*
This is also happening in Dortmund this evening!
Back to Brendan. The Celtic manager spoke to the media ahead of the Champions League match against Borussia Dortmund. Here’s everything that was said…
Q: Sum up your excitement, your thoughts, and your emotions as you head into this year’s Champions League.
Brendan Rodgers: “Well, clearly we’re very excited. We got off to a really good start in the last round. So we’ve come here to a stadium very much like Celtic Park in terms of that they breathe, football, and we’re all excited by the challenge. So yeah, pleased to have just arrived and get ready for the game.”
Brendan Rodgers Celtic, Head Coach UEFA Champions League Press Conference, Celtic 30 09 2024. Photo BEAUTIFUL SPORTS/Buriakov
Q: What do you need to see from your side? What has to go right in order to get the result tomorrow night?
Brendan Rodgers: “I think for us it’s looking to bring our game to the next level. I think how we’ve been performing over probably the last six, or seven months has just been increasing. Now we’ve come to this level and we’re under no illusions about what. We’re playing against a team that is challenging the very top end of elite football. But for us, I’ve always said, whether it’s domestically or whether it’s away in this competition, it’s making us a really difficult team to play against with and without the ball.
“So for us, that’s what we want to be able to do. I’m not looking for perfection, I’m just looking for us to be really, really difficult to play against and give everything we have. Like I say, bring our game, which is to press, to fight, to run. We know at times that quality drives you back and then it’s having that resilience in those moments. But we also know that we have a game that can hurt teams as well, with our football and our speed. So I’m really excited about seeing that.”
Q: What would it mean and how big of a statement do you think it would be if you were to get the result tomorrow night?
Brendan Rodgers: “It’s the second of eight games. Whatever happens after this game, we’ll arrive back into the changing room and I still know that I’ve got a very good team. That’s still got a lot of progression to make but what a great test for us. A great test to come up against a top team with top players. I’m looking forward to seeing that and as I said, I’m very relaxed but focused in that we can get a result that can build on the first game’s result.”
Q: Is this almost the perfect place to see if you can do that here? You’ve scored 16 goals in your last three games. Do you feel this is the perfect time for this kind of fixture?
Brendan Rodgers Celtic, Head Coach UEFA Champions League Press Conference, Celtic 30 09 2024 Photo BEAUTIFUL SPORTS/Buriakov
Brendan Rodgers: “Yes, I think we’re arriving at a great place. Again, I track it back to pre-season. The games that we played there, we built up pre-season with some big teams and we were able to look at certain aspects of how we wanted to play at this level. I was very, very pleased with what I’ve seen and that has just continued right the way through. So to come here, it’s a great opportunity for us and I’m excited about that.”
Q: In terms of team news, is there anything changed from the weekend? How’s everyone looking?
Brendan Rodgers: “Mostly everyone here. Obviously, Cam (Carter-Vickers) is not available. We’ll see what he’s like going into next weekend but he’s not here for this evening.”
Q: How big a blow is that to not have Cameron? He’s been such a stalwart for you at the back.
Brendan Rodgers: “Clearly, he’s a top-class player for us. He’s missed a little bit of Champions League football in his time. Five of the 12 games that the club has played, he’s unfortunately not been able to play in. But yes, we’ve got other players. It’s always an opportunity for someone else to come in and hopefully, we can get Cam back sooner rather than later.
“But like I say, we can’t overthink it. We will rely on a collective. There’s not one player that brings our results and how we’ve been this season. Of course, he’s a very important player, Cam. But for us to get a result tomorrow evening, it will be by the collective.”
Cameron Carter-Vickers during the Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and Hearts at Celtic Park on 14 September 2024. Photo Malcolm Mackenzie PSI
Q: You mentioned how when you come into the Champions League, these big teams can force you onto the back foot. Maybe that transition has been difficult in Europe in years gone past. Different this time?
Brendan Rodgers: “Yes, that’s what you’re trying to build upon. After this campaign, it’s continuing to build. I feel very good going into our first game, feeling that we’ve got certain attributes and facets within the team that maybe we haven’t had.
“Part of that is the preparation going into it. So I feel in a really good place with the squad. Just because you bring in one or two players doesn’t mean you’re going to win the thing. But it certainly allows us to be competitive and that’s what we want to see over the course of this campaign, that we can make that step from qualification and participating into competing at this level. What I’ve seen from the mindset of our players and how we’ve produced at our performance level, that’s what we aim to do tomorrow evening.”
Q: They had a great run in the competition last season. What are you expecting from them?
Brendan Rodgers: “Clearly a very, very tough game. Offensively, the team is very good. They lost some players in the summer but I look at the team and we’ve got some fantastic players in that middle to top section. So they’re always going to put you on the back foot at times with their qualities.
“Obviously, they’ve conceded some goals but that sometimes happens when you’re trying to find the balance and the structure within the team. He’s obviously taken over and he’ll be fine-tuning that. Whilst he’s seen the team expected to challenge at the very highest level. It’s a top side with top players and we have to be right on it to get a good performance and result.”
Q: Do you see this as some sort of acid test?
Brendan Rodgers: “Yeah, absolutely. I think this level is as much about the head as it is about skill. I think this is bringing a mentality to this level and I think that’s what I’m looking forward to seeing. Bringing that quality that we show domestically and being able to take it out into this amazing arena and playing with that confidence. I think that the mindset at this level is just as important. and playing with that belief and that courage.
“But I don’t doubt that. I don’t doubt that with this team and what I’ve seen now over a period of time. It’s something that we’ll know we’ll have to face stress in the game and face pressure but that’s even the very best teams that happens to. But for us, it’s transferring that game model that we see week to week and that we’ve seen in the first leg of the Champions League or the first game. And to do that, if we can do that, we can be a really difficult team to play against tomorrow night.”
Q: You touched on how this stadium breathes football. Can that really bring the best out of players, that environment when you step out tomorrow night?
Brendan Rodgers: “Yeah, I think it’s something that you have to cherish and live that. Sometimes that’s difficult when you’re playing because you’re so focused on the game. But for us, tomorrow we play for the dreams of the supporters. The supporters are travelling out here in the thousands and we play for ourselves to go and enjoy this experience. It’s a wonderful arena, go and embrace it.
“Go and cherish these big games and let’s see where it takes us. Like I said, we’ll come in after the game. If we’ve done that and we’ve given everything and we play with the spirit that we have done and you don’t quite get the result, then as long as you’ve run and you’ve fought and you’ve played and you’ve pressed and you’ve attacked, then you can do no more than that. The game is about levels and about tiers. And for us, I’m just interested to see us competing at this level.”
Q: You know Nuri obviously from his spell at Liverpool. How do you reflect on that and how have you assessed his career since then?
Brendan Rodgers: “Yeah, he was a good guy, Nuri. He probably didn’t play for me as much as he would have liked. I think when he came in he was a young player, coming in on loan from Real Madrid. Unfortunately at that time, I’d moved Steven Gerrard from a number 10 position into a deeper role. I’d also had Jordan Henderson who became, those two guys, some of the greatest captains in the history of Liverpool and that’s who he was competing against.
“I tried to put him into the team and play in some positions that probably didn’t quite suit him. I might play as number 10 when he was a deeper player but I had other players in those positions that were doing really well for me. But across his time, he was a good guy. He loved his football, trained very well, and was super professional and of course, he left Liverpool and went back to Dortmund and followed his career from there. So it’s great to see him. It’ll be really good to see him tomorrow evening when he’s making his first steps as a manager.
“He’ll now know the challenges of when you do manage and all the various things that come up with being a manager. So I’m looking forward to seeing him. I’m looking forward to seeing Emre Can. Emre was a player that was absolutely brilliant for me at Liverpool. I travelled out here to Germany to come back and convince him to come to Liverpool as a young player. He came in and he was absolutely fantastic. Wherever I asked him to play, he played with real maturity and quality. He’s the captain here and he’s a very, very good player also.”
30 09 2024, UEFA Champions League, UCL, Press conference, Borussia Dortmund Celtic Glasgow, Press conference with coach Nuri Sahin Borussia Dortmund , Dortmund Signal Iduna Park NRW Germany. RHR PHOTO DE Photo Dennis Ewert/RHR-FOTO
Q: Just following on from that, I think a few comments back in the day from the area about not being happy with not playing his own position. It sounds as though this morning maybe management has changed their opinion of that whole spell. Will that do that, a guy when he changes his position to the dugout?
Brendan Rodgers: “Yes, it’s only sometimes later in life when you have the information and you have the knowledge that sometimes it can change. I never get too emotional with words. I think that players and young players, they all want to play. I think at that time when Nuri was at Liverpool, he had other players that were just ahead of him. But he will have enjoyed the experience even though he didn’t maybe play as much.
“Now certainly moving into a management perspective, you know the challenges and he’ll start to understand that. You get Sabitzer at the moment who wants to play central and he’s playing wide. So all these little things come to you as a coach and a manager. I remember Nuri as being a good guy, trained well, beautiful left foot, real technician and as I said in the games he played, he contributed.
“But we had other players ahead of him at that time. But I really hope he goes on and he’ll have a really good career. He’s passionate about the game and he’s making these early steps at a big club. So I hope he does exceptionally well apart from tomorrow.”
Q: Dortmund have lost three or four players since the Champions League final but maybe seven of the starters might start again tomorrow. Do you think they’re any weaker at all since June or are they still a formidable side?
Brendan Rodgers: “Yes, still a formidable team. You only need to look at the goals they’ve scored. They’ve been conceded. Like I said earlier, you’re trying to find the balance with those changes. It’s a top team, it’s a top club that’s set up to challenge the very elite of modern football. You see that within the stadium, you see it within the quality of the squad. So yes, it’s still a big challenge and they’ll be looking to go far in this competition.”
Q: Celtic in general have had some tough nights against these biggest teams in Europe over the last decade or more. What’s the key reason you think this can be different this time?
Brendan Rodgers: “I think it’s mindset and I think it’s belief and I think it’s experience. I think we’ve also added some players that give us something in key areas of the pitch that you need. This is a level you see tomorrow night, but the physicality of this level, the technique, the speed, all these attributes are needed. So we’ve tried to build our game on that model in terms of the physicality as well as the technique and the intensity.
“So yes, I will only know when I see it. I think domestically of course we’ve done very, very well but we want to see what the transfer looks like to this level.”
* Look it up younger readers.
Back to Dortmund…
