European ambitions can keep Brendan Rodgers at Celtic

Brendan Rodgers reflected on Celtic’s Champions League match against Bayern Munich on Tuesday night at the Allianz Arena and gave a strong indication that he plans to stay at Celtic to achieve more in European competition…

There was praise for Jeffrey Schlupp and Arne Engels and there are no new injury concerns ahead of the trip to Easter Road to play Hibs tomorrow lunchtime before Celtic take on Aberdeen at Celtic Park on Tuesday evening.

Here’s everything that was said at this afternoon’s media conference at Lennoxtown with the Celtic manager answering the questions…

Q: Brendan, reflecting on the Champions League campaign, how do you now build on those performances to go one more next term?

Brendan Rodgers: “Obviously it was a campaign that was full of growth and improvement and that was very clear to see. I think we’ve set the standard for the next steps going forward and a game tomorrow is the first step on that journey to get back there. It was a wonderful campaign and I’m really proud of the players and how they performed and how they got over many aspects within the campaign of adversity. The quality of our football, the resilience, the grit, everything you have to show at that level. But it’s gone now so we get ready for our next game.”

Q: How would you say that performance was on Tuesday as an advert for Scottish football?

Brendan Rodgers: “I said after the game it was great for Celtic, it was great for Scotland as well in terms of showing that we actually can be competitive at that level. I think people who have watched the game up here will watch it closely. We’ll see how we play and see some of the games we’ve had against top teams and how we’ve performed. To ask the players to go into that arena and play without that fear but then to actually produce that performance, I was so happy for them. Obviously really disappointed for them at the end because they didn’t deserve that. To go and perform how they did, they at least deserved that extra time. But it didn’t come, over the two games we created chances, in the main we defended really well and we just had to use that as a vehicle to go forward.”

Q: Have you been given assurances by the board that you’ll be able to reinvest what you’ve earned from the Champions League for next season?

Brendan Rodgers: “Well it’s not even a conversation. We’ve literally just finished our Champions League campaign and we will look at that in the summer. Have you had a chance Brendan to look back at the game and speak with your players and look at what you have achieved? You’ve gone to the Allianz Arena, one of the toughest stadiums in the world, leading 1-0 to the 94th minute.

“I think everyone knows you can’t take away what Bayern Munich are. They are a European giant, probably one of the top five clubs in the world. Everyone who was there would have felt the arena and the atmosphere and everything and what you have to cope with. For us then to go and play to that level and be so close, it’s a huge testament to the players and how they have worked. The composure they had and the nerve they had to go and play how I asked them to play. We touched on it this morning just to reflect on the game itself like we do every game. Reflect on the performance level and then we draw a line under that and that’s the lever to push on and be really hungry to get back there next season.”

Q: What has the message been Brendan to the players over the last few days now that you’ve just got domestic, the cup and the league to focus on?

Brendan Rodgers: “Well I said after the game to the players that it’s a real sign of how we’ve developed. That we’re sat in here at this stage of this competition against a club of this magnitude and we’re really disappointed. But I said that to come and perform that well we must draw the positives on that. Now we look forward and we’ve got two titles more to play for back home and we’ve got a few months to go. So let’s finish off on what can be an absolutely brilliant campaign for us.”

Continued on the next page…