Brendan Rodgers on significance of Celtic’s unbroken spirit after Dortmund defeat

Brendan Rodgers spoke to Celtic TV ahead of tomorrow night’s mammoth encounter between Celtic and BSC Young Boys in the UEFA Champions League…

Brendan Rodgers
Brendan Rodgers looks on prior to the Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and Dundee United at Celtic Park on January 08, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

With Celtic currently sitting on nine points in the new 36-team Champions League format, three points would secure qualification for February’s two-legged knockout playoff round for the Hoops.

Brendan Rodgers’ side could not have handpicked a more favourable fixture for matchday seven as the visitors have yet to pick up a single point across six matches since November and sit rock bottom in Europe’s elite club competition.

Speaking to the club’s TV channel on Monday afternoon, Rodgers spoke about the importance of the occasion, and why Celtic must perform to their A game in order to hit that elusive 12-point mark. Here’s everything that was said by the Celtic manager to Gerry McCulloch from Celtic TV…

Brendan Rodgers
Croatia, Zagreb, Maksimir Stadium. Celtic media conference before the UEFA Champions League match Dinamo – Celtic. In the photo: Celtic coach Brendan Rodgers. CROPIX Ronald Gorsic

Q: Brendan, how much are you looking forward to the big match on Wednesday night?

Brendan Rodgers: “Yes, very much so. It feels like a long time since we played our Champions League game at Celtic Park. These games are electric, there’s such a great atmosphere and obviously with so much at stake, it should make for a great occasion.”

Q: When you came back to the club, you said that one of your main ambitions was to make Celtic stronger in Europe, with a win all but securing your spot in the play-off for the last 16. Is this the kind of progress you were talking about?

Brendan Rodgers: “Yes, I think that if we can get through and into the play-offs, then it’s been a generation, really, since we’ve been able to do that as a club. But definitely, more importantly for me in terms of the performances, as well as the results, some of our performance level in the Champions League has really shown that we belong there. Like I said, we just want to continue with that. The whole idea was to try and sustain it over a period of time, but certainly in this time, we have a great opportunity now to make those play-offs.”

Celtic celebrations
UEFA Champions League match between Celtic FC and SK Slovan Bratislava at Celtic Park on September 18, 2024. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Q: The Champions League format, of course, changed this year. One big league of 36 teams playing eight different opposition only once. It’s been confusing for some, it’s quite difficult to work out the different permutations on a match day, but has the new format been beneficial to Celtic in any way?

Brendan Rodgers: “Yes, I believe so. I think that in many ways, obviously, you get your top teams that are in there, but then you also get teams from the other pots that give you that opportunity in order to qualify. The older format was always a challenge for a club like Celtic, but I think this year gives us that chance. But I also think as well that it’s been great playing different teams. Yes, you could say you’d love to play Borussia Dortmund at home after the game there, but I think playing the different teams, going to the different cities for the supporters as well as us, I think it’s been really good and I think the format has worked thus far so well.”

Celtic celebrations
UEFA Champions League match between Celtic FC and SK Slovan Bratislava at Celtic Park on September 18, 2024. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Q: The first tie was at home to Slovan Bratislava, a match that really set the tone and gave your side a really positive start in the competition with those five goals. How much did that game help to instil the belief in your players that they belonged at this level?

Brendan Rodgers: “Well, it did do because there was pressure on that game as well. People will forget that when you’re playing against a team that everyone says that you should win and you should be able to start the competition well, you still have to do it. The actions will always speak louder than the words. That night we were outstanding. The intensity of the game, the football, the speed of it, everything was great and obviously the atmosphere matched that. You want to get off to a good start and that was an absolutely perfect start for us.”

Celtic suffering in Dortmund
Serhou Guirassy celebrates scoring his team’s fourth goal during the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 League Phase MD6 match between Borussia Dortmund and Celtic FC at BVB Stadion Dortmund on October 01, 2024 (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)

Q: On then to the game away to Dortmund and that 7-1 defeat. There’s a saying that goes, you either win or you learn. Did you learn anything from that game that would serve you in the weeks to come?

Brendan Rodgers: “Yes, I thought it provided a pivotal point for us. We’d come off the back of a really good victory against St Johnstone and then we were going up against a really top level team with top players and the game just got away from us that night very quickly in the first half. Credit to the players, their spirit was still there, they kept running, they kept fighting. You see in the second half they were still trying to do all the right things.

Paulo Bernardo in Dortmund
Waldemar Anton is challenged by Paulo Bernardo during the UEFA Champions League match between Borussia Dortmund and Celtic at BVB Stadion on October 01, 2024 . (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)

“When I evaluated the game afterwards, it’s so important that your spirit is never broken because you’ll always get another chance in football. If you play that team again or you play in the competition again, if your spirit looks like it’s broken then it’s not a great sign because opposition players will think they can beat you and you’ll stop running or you’ll stop working. That wasn’t the case. We lost the goals, and we lost heavily that night but the spirit wasn’t broken, which was really good to see. It allowed us to then analyse and see how we could prepare to come from a setback because that was probably the first setback in a long, long time.

Celtic supporters in Dortmund
UEFA Champions League, Dortmund v Celtic Glasgow 01 10 2024 Fans of Celtic at the start of the match. Photo BEAUTIFUL SPORTS/Buriakov

“If you think once we got up and running in the early part of the year, in 2024, we were on this great ride of results and success and had a fantastic pre-season and that rolled into the beginning of the season. That was our first real bump, and we dealt with it in the best way possible, which was to analyse it, be honest, not have what I would call a toxic positivity and think it was all good. We weren’t very good on the night, but our spirit was there and we learned from that and we did.”

Adam Idah in action against Atalanta
Adam Idah  competes for the ball with Isak Hien during the UEFA Champions League match between Atalanta BC and Celtic at Stadio di Bergamo on October 23, 2024 in Bergamo, Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)

Q: After that Dortmund match, you then had a really tricky tie away to Atalanta, one of the best teams in Italian Serie A. Was that 0-0 draw the best defensive performance you’ve witnessed from one of your Celtic teams?

Brendan Rodgers: “Yes, 100%. We knew that we had to play a slightly different game and adapt and that’s what good teams can do. We all know how we want to play, we all know how we want to work but we were playing a superior opponent in their own backyard who notoriously score a load of goals. We went there to draw 0-0, showed the concentration, showed the work great and I think again provided us with a great confidence that at this very highest level, when we’re concentrated and when we’re focused, we can defend well. It was a really good point for us and a good response to Dortmund.”

Celtic team ahead of RB Leipzig game
Celtic v RB Leipzig – UEFA Champions League – League Stage – Celtic Park (back to front, left to right) Celtic’s Nicolas Kuhn, Auston Trusty, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Arne Engels, Alistair Johnston, goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, Daizen Maeda, Greg Taylor, Callum McGregor, Reo Hatate and Kyogo Furuhashi before the UEFA Champions League, league stage match at Celtic Park, on Tuesday November 5, 2024. Photo Andrew Milligan

Q: Then of course that home tie against Leipzig who at the time had the meanest defence in the Bundesliga. Fans say that 3-1 victory was one of the best performances by Celtic in the modern era. Was it a night when everything you’d been working on just clicked?

Nicolas Kuhn
Player of the match Nicolas Kuhn is pushed by team mates to celebrate in front of the Green Brigade at full-time after scoring twice in Celtic s 3-1 victory over RB Leipzig. Celtic v RB Leipzig, UEFA Champions League, Group Stage, Celtic Park, – 05 November 2024. Photo Stuart Wallace Shutterstock

Brendan Rodgers: “Yes, it just felt great within the game, and I thought we started the game well and then they obviously had a little spell and then they go in front so now we have to react against a top-class team, and we did that. I thought 3-1, we were so good in the game. Everything you want, our pressing and maintaining our second goal just before half-time is one of the best goals that I can remember in my time. It’s not always because of the free-flowing football, because of the attitude to press the game and how we won the ball back and how we scored. In the second half, we were outstanding in our football and our defence. Everything was perfect on the evening.”

Daizen Maeda celebrates
Daizen Maeda celebrates after scoring during the UEFA Champions League match between Celtic FC and Club Brugge KV at Celtic Park on November 27, 2024 (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Q: Club Brugge, next at home, a 1-1 draw but on the night, you could really see the quality of the opposition. In hindsight, do you look at that as a point gained rather than two points dropped?

Brendan Rodgers: “No, there’s no hindsight. I knew that we were a really good side going into the game. I think the challenge for people, they will look at teams like Leipzig and Atalanta and see them as big teams at a big level. Club Brugge have been far more consistent than us as a club at the Champions League level for a lot longer. How the structure is with their club and the players they bring in, that was a really good result for us. We wanted to win the game. We didn’t play well. They dominated the first half for me. But our response in the second half, we came back into it so well. Then in the second half, we were unfortunate not to win the game. Before the game, I knew it was going to be a tough game and that’s what it proved to be.”

Callum McGregor
Callum McGregor acknowledges the fans following the UEFA Champions League match between GNK Dinamo and Celtic at Stadion Maksimir on December 10, 2024 in Zagreb, Croatia. (Photo by Jurij Kodrun/Getty Images)

Q: Finally, then, the trip to face Dinamo Zagreb away, that 0-0 draw. Very few chances in the game. Were there any frustrations coming away from that one or were you happy with the point?

Brendan Rodgers: “Yes, there were frustrations. It’s hard to argue when you get a point at Champions League level away from home. But I felt we missed an opportunity in the game. We were too static, not as fluid as we would have liked to have been. Tricky conditions, I think the pitch played a part in that as well. But I wanted us to do more in the game. But like I’ve said before, every point is absolutely critical in the Champions League. So, to go away to take the point, we were frustrated. But it shows you the progress the team is making that you can still feel that way and get a point in the Champions League.”

BSC Young Boys
Referee Urs Schnyder, march-in with YB and FCW players, BSC Young Boys FC Winterthur, Super League, Soccer, 18 01 2025. Photo IMAGO

Q: So here we are now, Young Boys, Swiss champions. Sitting bottom of the Champions League with zero points and ninth in their own domestic division. What do you say to those who say a win for Celtic is all but a certainty?

Brendan Rodgers: “Well then, you don’t know football. You can never forecast; you can never predict. Yes, their run of results haven’t been good. They’ve recently just changed the managers, so I’ve seen that, and I’ve seen the game that they’ve had yesterday, in preparation for us, just to look at the system and how they play. They look fresher, they have a different organisation now and clearly are responding to their new manager. So, every game at this level, you have to really earn it. There’s no gimmies. It was like the first game; we were expected to win that. But we had to perform and work really hard and then we had a great night. So, this will be no different. The expectation will be on us. We’re happy to assume that and take that pressure because we want to win the game. There’s no easy games at this level. They may look it, they may sound it, but you have to do your work on the pitch.”

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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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