Brendan Rodgers estimates that his Celtic squad has what it takes to reach the next level against Borussia Dortmund…
The Irishman has broken countless domestic records and will be wanting to dismantle a few more tonight on the continent. Rodgers is only one of two Celtic managers to have ever won a Champions League group stage away match.
2012 was the inaugural win on the road when a last-gasp Georgios Samaras winner sent the Hoops home from Russia happy with a 3-2 victory versus Spartak Moscow. The current Celtic boss overseen our last victory away from home in the Champions League which came seven years ago in Belgium against Anderlecht.
Adding Germany to the list of countries we have won away from home in would be sweet.
However, the Celtic manager has also seen his sides humiliated on several occasions. Whether it be the 7-1 drubbing in Paris or the 7-0 loss against Barcelona, or even last years 6-0 thrashing from Diego Simione’s Atletico Madrid, Rodgers record in Europe for the Hoops does not make for pretty reading. We did not even score a goal on our travels in last season’s Champions League group stage campaign.
Desperate to change this, Rodgers explained, “for us it is looking to bring our game to the next level. I think how we have been performing over probably the last six, seven months has just been increasing.”
Juggling exceptional European performances and being domestically dominant is something Celtic have never mastered in recent seasons.
Rodgers believes the tide is turning, “we are playing against a team that are challenging at the very top end of elite football. But for us, I have always said that, whether it is domestically or whether it is away in this competition, it is making us a really difficult team to play against, with and without the ball. That is 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.”
He continued, “we know at times that quality drives you back and then it is 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.”
Tonight’s encounter also presents an interesting challenge for the Celtic boss. Brendan Rodgers coached Dortmund manager Nuri Sahin during the 2012/2013 season where the German embarked on a loan spell at Liverpool from Real Madrid.
Rodgers was complimentary of his former player, “he loved his football, trained very well, was super professional and of course he left Liverpool and went back to Dortmund and I followed his career from there. It will be really good to see him when he is making his first steps as a manager. He will know the challenges of when you do manage all the various things that come up with being a manager. So, I am looking forward to seeing him.”
Hopefully, the master will defeat the apprentice at the Signal Iduna Park this evening in what is a blockbuster clash.
Conor Spence
