Brendan Rodgers warns Daniel Cummings about agents with a different agenda

Q: Is there some hope from the club that there could be fans in the Allianz Arena?

Brendan Rodgers: “I think the club will always fight for supporters, that’s what they will do. I haven’t spoken to Michael Nicholson or anyone as of yet this morning on that. That’s what the club have always done, they’ve always fought to represent their support base.”

Q: Do you understand the frustration of supporters with hearing that news, that it’s one individual that has thrown one smoke bomb and it’s thousands who could be implicated? Do you understand the frustrations of the majority of the supporters?

Brendan Rodgers: “Yes, 100%. But like I say, it’s been a catalogue of events, it’s not just that one. To be in that position where it’s in the balance whether you’re going to be able to go and watch your team or not, because of that, it’s been a series of events that’s led to that. So yes, I can understand the frustration.”

Q: What would you say to that tiny minority that still continue to do it?

Brendan Rodgers: “I think from every aspect of the game, I was looking at the game the other night, we’re 2-0 behind, we show an amazing mentality and spirit to come back into the game, we get to 2-1, we’re ready to go again to start and then the smoke bomb comes onto the pitch and we then have to wait for that to take place. So from a football perspective, you’re losing rhythm, you’re losing that moment, even though we went on and scored early again afterwards. I think there’s a safety issue as well, clearly, for people in the stands. I just find it hard to fathom in terms of how to make the difference between a genuine Celtic supporter and someone who’s there just for a different reason. For me, our support base is absolutely incredible, what we give to the game, the atmosphere that we create. So I really hope that we don’t get this sanction brought upon us for this game and hopefully then, being so close to that, the breaking of that, then maybe it helps us going forward.”

Q: How much of a shame would it be for the support to miss out?

Brendan Rodgers: “Yes, that’s it and that’s where our sympathy goes. So like I say, let’s wait and see what happens. I really entirely hope that that won’t be the case. We can speak more about it then. But like I say, we have a chance to change it and not just accept it, because it’s not acceptable. Our supporters are amazing and we want to keep it that way and we certainly don’t want them missing out in prestigious games, or any game for that matter, because of behaviour.”

Q: From a football point of view, how much better equipped do you think the team is now, from the experiences they’ve had over these last few games in Europe, to travel to Germany and get a result?

Brendan Rodgers: “Yes, well I think we have improved. I think that the key message for me this season and what we wanted to see was progress. And there’s no doubt that the team have progressed over the course of the competition. I was so proud of the team the other night because what we clearly showed in the game against Aston Villa was that our spirit was just not broken. I felt that in Dortmund, the game just got away from us but either way we were on the heavy end of a bad scoreline. How these players fought back from that and learned from that, the evidence is there over the course of the games, whether it was Atalanta, some of the other games, and the other night. They didn’t panic.

CONTINUED ON THE NEXT PAGE…