“I really actually enjoyed the game. The first half we were excellent,” Brendan Rodgers

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers spoke to the media post-match and gave his assessment of Celtic’s landmark 1-0 win over Young Boys in the UEFA Champions League…

Kyogo celebrates
UEFA Champions League Celtic Glasgow vs Young Boys Bern, Celtic Park. Goal celebration by Kyogo Furuhashi however VAR rules out the goal. Photo Joeran Steinsiek IMAGO

For the first time in 12 years Celtic have secured knockout stage football in the Champions League. Three disallowed goals, a missed penalty and the hitting of a crossbar later, the Hoops managed to find a way late on against the Swiss champions to guarantee themselves a two-legged knockout affair in February.

Speaking after the game, Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers lauded his players for their monumental efforts for finally breaking down barriers in Europe’s elite club competition.

Q: Brendan, that turned into a bit of a nerve-jangler it felt from the stands at least. How was it for you?

Brendan Rodgers: “I really actually enjoyed the game. The first half we were excellent. We were so creative in the game. Our penetration was so good, and we were unfortunate we weren’t at least a couple up front. So, pleased with that. Pleased with the reaction when we didn’t score the penalty, it can rock you. Never did. The players just got the composure again, got playing. The second half you always expect, it’s the highest level of European football, so you expect them to come out and adapt a little bit and have a little bit of a ball.

Kyogo celebrates
UEFA Champions League Celtic Glasgow vs Young Boys Bern, Celtic Park. Goal celebration by Kyogo Furuhashi however VAR rules out the goal. Photo Joeran Steinsiek IMAGO

“But still, you’ve got to stay strong and then you’ve got to keep persevering. And I thought that the players earned that. Actually, the winning goal, to show that level of composure, in the 85th minute of the game, to build the game from the keeper right the way through the team, right onto the side of the pitch and then an absolutely incredible pass by Reo Hatate. And then we get that little bit of luck for the winning goal that we never had in the first half. I’ve been involved in many of the games here where you end up drawing that game and it’s a bit flat at the end. And even worse, lose a game when you shouldn’t have. But for us to win it, I think it shows the maturity, and it shows the development of this squad. And I’m so pleased for everyone.”

Q: It certainly wasn’t flat at the end tonight. You could sense what it meant to the fans, the achievement of progressing to the next stage. Can you just sum up again what it means to yourself and the club as a whole?

Brendan Rodgers: “Well, I think the club is always the most important. The supporters, from the first whistle to the end, they can see in that the players need lifting and that pushing. And they come in all the way through the game, but especially at the end, when they know that the players need that help to just keep them going and keep pushing forward. It’s a little bit of history created. We haven’t been in the knockout stages for a long time. And so, for the supporters, it’s an amazing night. And obviously for the club, it’s really good. I think if you look at progress, we’ve won three games, we’ve drawn three games, we’ve lost one. Over the course of the Champions League, it’s a really good consistency.”

Reo Hatate
Reo Hatate during the UEFA Champions League match between Celtic FC and BSC Young Boys at Celtic Park on January 22,2025.Photo:JustPictures.ch. Richard Callis (IMAGO)

Q: I know it’s a terrific achievement in itself, but you go into the Villa game, just a point behind them, knowing that anything from that game… I guess you can go into that game and just set your sights on doing as best as you can, but knowing that you could even move further up the table?

Brendan Rodgers: “That’s the idea. It’s a great stadium to play football in. The atmosphere will be great for us. We go there, and we’ll finish off the eighth game like we wanted to do in all the other games. It’s to go in and play well and look to win the game. Obviously, they’re a fantastic opponent. We go there with no fear, and we look forward to it when it arrives.”

Q: When you returned to the club, you said you wanted progress in Europe. This is certainly something you can look at. How much more progress can this team make?

Brendan Rodgers: “It’s just time and patience and support, isn’t it? Of course, you’ve always got to be improving squads and developing individual players, but the players are doing that. I think we’ve seen where they’ve come from last season. I thought we played well, but didn’t quite get the points. So now, coming into this season, to have 12 points at this stage is absolutely fantastic from where the club has been over a number of years at this level. So, I think that’s good to see. What can we do? The idea is to hopefully be able to sustain this level over the coming years, but we have to make the first steps and qualify. We’ve been able to do that, which is a fantastic achievement by the players.”

Arne Engels dejected after missing the penalty kick, which was saved by Marvin Keller during the UEFA Champions League match between Celtic FC and BSC Young Boys at Celtic Park on January 22, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Q: I know you said the most important thing is the club, but is there a personal satisfaction there as well?

Brendan Rodgers: “Clearly, it’s obviously a privilege to be here as manager. There’s been so many critics of Celtic at this level. There’s no doubt it is a challenge at this level, but the players have stepped up and been absolutely superb over the course of these seven games. The setback that we had in Dortmund, we learned from, and now the players on a night like tonight and they get the reward.”

Q: Brendan, did you have belief the whole time in the game? You said at this level, there’s always the opponents going to come into the game, but did you have belief in your players the whole time that they were going to go and get that win like they eventually did?

Brendan Rodgers: “I think we’ve shown that, haven’t we, in the games that we’ve played, in the competition, especially at home. We’ve shown over the course of the whole season that we can score goals at the level. In the main, we’ve been defensively strong. It’s just that perseverance and resilience to keep going. As I said, this is a level where, despite Young Boys and their record, they’ve got good players. They were Swiss champions in Switzerland. You can see as a nation; it’s a very good football nation. It’s the mentality and the crowd kept driving the team on, and we got the reward at the end. We will always fight to the very end, and the players showed the benefits of that.”

Adam Idah celebrates with Callum McGregor
Adam Idah celebrates with Callum McGregor after Loris Benito of BSC Young Boys concedes an own goal during the UEFA Champions League match between Celtic FC and BSC Young Boys at Celtic Park on January 22, 2025.(Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Q: We’ve been running some simulations here, trying to work out the possibilities for the final game. You still can finish in the top eight. Is that what you’re going to be telling your players when you go down to Villa Park next week?

Brendan Rodgers: “I haven’t really thought, to be honest. I think tonight was such a big night. There was such a big expectation on the team. I think everyone looking at us at home and playing against a team that hadn’t won and thinking that it’s going to be easy, and there’s absolutely no game at this level is easy. But we didn’t get disappointed. We kept going, we kept fighting, we kept running, and like I said, we kept believing. We get the points. We have to recover for the game at the weekend, and then we’ll look forward to the eighth game at Villa. As I said, it’s an amazing stadium, great grounds down in the Premier League. We’ll look forward to that when the game comes.”

Celtic celebrations
Adam Idah of Celtic celebrates victory with teammate Kyogo Furuhashi after the UEFA Champions League match between Celtic FC and BSC Young Boys at Celtic Park on January 22, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Q: Without talking about the top eight and that kind of thing, but just in terms in general, what would the message be to the players? Don’t stop. Don’t say anything else. Keep dreaming, keep pushing, keep going. There’s more you can achieve here?

Brendan Rodgers: “Yeah, I think what we’ve shown is that, as I said to the players beforehand, whenever we played Leipzig and we talked about starting fast and making it our running game and being really aggressive and everything else, we hadn’t quite had that sort of performance. But now we’ve had that Red Bull performance. It’s now reality. You can play at that level against really good teams, and you can defend, because Atalanta was a big one for us as well. You see Atalanta every time they can score of four, five, six goals. So, to go there and keep a clean sheet, that also gives you confidence. So, for us as a squad, it’s just continuing to go to the level. This has been a fantastic seven games for us. To finish with 12 points, like I say, is no mean feat at the level. But you’ve got to keep improving. This will give the team a big belief, and we’ve just got to keep pushing and keep developing.”

Adam Idah celebrates with Callum McGregor
Adam Idah celebrates with Callum McGregor after Loris Benito of BSC Young Boys concedes an own goal during the UEFA Champions League match between Celtic FC and BSC Young Boys at Celtic Park on January 22, 2025.(Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Q: Where does this achievement rank for you over your two spells?

Brendan Rodgers: “Listen, the bread and butter here is always our domestic football. And then, like I said, there’s been a lot of critics around Celtic in Europe at this level. So, I’m just very proud for the club and the supporters, because, like I said, there’s been so many moments of near misses and some tough times at this level. I don’t think there’s any doubt that in the 18 months we’ve been here, I think we’ve made progress and made some big steps. This season we’ve shown that. We just want to keep growing. As I said, it’s a privilege to manage Celtic at this level, but I wanted to be a Celtic manager at this level and be competitive. I think we’ve been there.”

Q: You’ve not just qualified, but you’ve done it with that one game to spare. If you were told in the summer, you would do that, did you think that was feasible, achievable, or have they surpassed what you thought they could do at this level?

Brendan Rodgers: “Well, we hoped that would be the case. I think to have 12 points after the seven games, especially with some of the teams we’ve had in a group, and then obviously you have the expectation to beat the other teams. I’m just so, so pleased for everyone. We’ve got the game at Aston Villa, so to be in the knockout stages already, I think it’s a big achievement. You just go into every game to do your best and hope that you can get to that point. I think we’re all looking at it and thinking, if we do our work well, we could arrive before the last game and thankfully we’ve been able to do that.”

Kasper Schmeichel celebrates
UEFA Champions League 2024 2025, Celtic Glasgow vs Young Boys Bern YB Celtic Park. Kasper Schmeichel cheers Celtic’s 1- 0 victory. Photo JOERAN STEINSIEK (IMAGO)

Q: Just a word on Kasper Schmeichel. Contract extension this morning, comes up with some really big saves tonight. How good is it having a goalkeeper like him at this level?

Brendan Rodgers: “It’s so important. To have a player where, and all the best players, they make the big contribution in the big games. He’s been absolutely outstanding since he’s come in, both on and off the pitch. You see him tonight, his authority in the game, he’s one of the world’s best shot-stoppers still. I’ll say that. He was fantastic for me at Leicester, but I know when you see him at international level, he’s such a brilliant shot-stopper. So pleased for him, so pleased. He’s fallen in love with the club. He’s really, really enjoyed his time here, playing at a big club with big pressure. And thankfully he’s going to continue with that work. So really pleased for him.”

Auston Trusty
Football UEFA Champions League 2024 2025, Celtic Glasgow vs Young Boys Bern YB Celtic Park Glasgow, Scene in the YB penalty area, Auston Trusty tries to convert the ball with his head. Photo Joeran Steinsiek.IMAGO

Q: For an American audience, could I just ask you about Cameron Carter-Vickers and Auston Trusty, their contribution tonight over the campaign?

Brendan Rodgers: “I thought the two boys were colossal, really. You know you have to defend well at this level. And that’s why the other day you have to give a little poke to your centre-halves, because you know what you’re going to come into. And I think Auston was outstanding tonight, as was Cam. So, for the American audience, they were very, very good, very good.”

Cameron Carter-Vickers
Cameron Carter-Vickers of Celtic during the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 League Phase MD7 match between Celtic FC and BSC Young Boys at Celtic Park on January 22, 2025 Photo JustPictures.ch/ Richard Callis IMAGO

Q: Apparently the US team has a big issue is in central defence. Could those two be an answer to that? And do you speak to Mauricio Pochettino? Is he in touch with you?

Brendan Rodgers: “No, I haven’t spoken to Mauricio, but Mauricio’s assistant was with me a few weeks ago. He came and we had a good chat going through the guys and their qualities. But listen, if you’re playing at the very highest level in European football, then those two guys can play internationally. Obviously you’ve got Tim Ream there, and he’s obviously the captain, and you’ve got some other players, but they really rate the two guys very highly. So hopefully, and you can see the two of them work very well together. Pace, power, strength, and keep clean sheets. So yeah, very good.”

Daizen Maeda is sent off
Referee Rohit Saggi shows a red card to Daizen Maeda during the UEFA Champions League match between Celtic FC and BSC Young Boys at Celtic Park on January 22, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Q: Just a quick word on the red card at the end. I don’t know if you’ve had a chance to see it back. Any quibbles with the red, and regardless of that, is it going to be a loss to lose Daizen Maeda for however many games he’s going to miss as a result?

Brendan Rodgers: “It’s a big loss, because you see his running, his intensity, his power, everything, so it’s a big loss for us. But I haven’t seen it back, to be honest. They tell me he’s had a wee nibble, a kick-out. But we’ll see it before we decide anything else.”

Conor Spence

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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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