Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers spoke to the media at the Allianz Arena in Munich this afternoon ahead of tomorrow evening’s Champions League play-off second leg against Bayern Munich…
Here’s everything that was said as the Celtic manager gets ready to take on the Bundesliga giants in their own backyard looking ti secure a victory and progress to the last 16 of the Champions League…
Q: Do you require your best performance of the season to achieve what you need to achieve?
Brendan Rodgers: “Yeah, obviously we won’t be the favourites but everything is possible. I think the goal that we scored brings a different view of the game totally. Coming in at 2-1, 2-0 is quite a big difference. But we know that over the two legs, we’d have to play really well to come through.”
Q: Is it a full squad to choose from tomorrow?
Brendan Rodgers: “Yeah, everyone is available.”
Q: And just in terms of the way the team are playing, especially going forward, you’ve got Adam (Idah) scoring goals through the middle, Daizen (Maeda) has played through the middle and scored goals out wide as well. How good is that for you as a manager? Is it one of those good headaches that you’ve got tomorrow night to decide who starts in the line-up?
Brendan Rodgers: “Yeah, I think we look at the game and we decide and design the plan for the game. But knowing that whatever team starts the game will need the players coming off the bench to affect the game for us. It’s such a demanding level physically, so we’re prepared for that. We’ve seen it in the first game, we didn’t give away so much defensively. The team worked really well, and then obviously in that last 25 minutes, we were able to show all our football. So we’ll need all of that in the game.”
Vincent Kompany spoke earlier today, and they told us that Harry Kane’s a doubt, and wouldn’t give away whether he was actually going to play or not. Does it change anything for you whether Kane plays or not?
Brendan Rodgers: “It doesn’t change anything in terms of we need to win the game and we want to win the game. If Harry didn’t play, then of course it’s a big miss for them. But I’m pretty sure there’s another world-class player who can come in and play. But I would expect Harry to play.”
Brendan, it would be one of the greatest results in Celtic’s European history if you can pull this off? These things have happened down throughout the years. The Miracle on Ice, the Miracle in Modena, you are looking to perform a sporting miracle here? Not many teams come here and win, but you’ve still got a fighting chance.
Brendan Rodgers: “Absolutely, and that was the key for us in the first leg. When you play two-legged games, it’s important that you commit to your second game. You have the opportunity, and you have the chance to do that. So we have to be smart, and we’ll have to be smart again tomorrow in the game. But we have players who can score goals. I think for us, we defended well, we didn’t give so much away. We were disappointed with the goals we conceded, just on the timings and especially the second goal. So we know we can defend at this level. It’s just having that courage and that bravery to go and play our game. That will be key for us tomorrow. It’s a beautiful pitch; the arenas are amazing to come and play in. As I said, it’s the second leg, so we want to make sure we leave everything out there on the field. As I mentioned, anything is possible in the game. Anything can happen and hopefully we can go and produce a performance that gives us the result in the end.”
Q: In terms of your approach to the game tomorrow night, how much of a balancing act is there between knowing you have to score and making sure that you’re not on the end of something that’s too bad?
Brendan Rodgers: “I don’t really think of it as too bad. I just think of us and the mentality to get through the tie. I think we learned from the ‘too bad.’ The setback was there, and we understood what we had to do better. You can’t go, no matter how much emotion there is; you can’t go chasing the game. This is a level where it’s very difficult to press the game for 90-plus minutes. So, being in balance, the words you mentioned, are absolutely spot on. You have to defend well. There are going to be spells without the ball.
“I think up until the weekend, I’ve seen something where our game is the lowest possession they had over the course of the season. And for those in xG and everything else, it was the lowest expected goals in the game. So that tells us that if we defend it well, we’ll have to defend well again. And then we’ll have spells with the ball, and we know that we have the quality to score. But balance is the right word. We have to be clever and smart to know how we play the game and then make sure that we’re in the game.”
