BRENDAN Rodgers tonight insisted that even better is to come from Celtic in the Champions League this season after watching his side score five goals in the competition for the first time ever against Slovan Bratislava.
Rodgers was delighted with the Scottish champions’ dominant performance in their opening league phase match against their Slovakian counterparts at a packed Parkhead this evening.
Goals from Liam Scales, Kyogo Furuhashi, Arne Engels, Daizen Maeda and substitute Adam Idah gave the home side the perfect start – and moved them into second spot in the table behind German giants Bayern Munich.
Rodgers, whose men are above Real Madrid, Liverpool, Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City after their opening game, joked that if the final was held now Celtic would be taking on Bayern.
But the Northern Irishman, whose team now take on last season’s beaten finalists Borussia Dortmund in Germany on Tuesday week, is confident that his charges can build on their display in the next seven games.
“The competition stops now!” he quipped. “We play Bayern Munich in the final! But, no, it was a great night for everyone. I thought that you just sensed it before the game, the feeling in the crowd. But, no, so proud of the team. The intensity which we played at with and without the ball was so good. Yeah, it was a great night.
“I thought we played well in the first half, got the early goal that we wanted, had other opportunities to be more clinical. But I just felt that we were having one touch too many. Our ability as a team to play with a touch-pass tempo and with less touches just speeds up our game. “There was too much movement at times in the first half. So we needed to keep our position get through the pitch quicker and then obviously get into the areas that we wanted to. From showing some of that at half-time and then seeing the second half right from the off, the players were absolutely sensational in the game. “Just everything, mentality, hunger, greedy for more goals, greedy for the ball, everyone working right to the very end. And could have had more than five. So it was a really good performance. “I think it shows the growth. Like I said, it's never an easy game at this level. But we coped really well with it. There was a big expectation coming into the game, but for us it was really important not to complicate things. Just play our football, play how we play and see if we can put them under that stress to try and live with it.
“I felt the intensity right from the off was superb and in particular the second half when we really turned the screw. It was very, very good. We had other chances, really good possibilities to score more goals and that's what we want. We want it to be really, really difficult to play against with and without the ball.
“It's the start that we wanted. I don't think we could have asked for a better start other than having a clean sheet, which was unfortunate. We know our next three games are really tough games, but they're exciting games for us. I thought tonight we had to make a really good start in the competition. I think we made a fantastic start."
Rodgers added: “We got three points on the board and it's now a back-to-back win at this level from the end of last season to the last game up against Feyenoord and here now. It's a little step, but important steps for us moving forward.
“They're big belief games and it's been really difficult over a long period of time for Celtic at this level. I want to change that mood and that feeling and we've worked on that from the beginning of pre-season to get to this point where we can have that belief. It's a big testament to the players and how hungry they were in the game. “Just don't overthink it. That's what's key. The razzmatazz around the Champions League is amazing. It's absolutely brilliant. It's different tiers, different levels but it's still the same idea of how we want to work. I think the confidence that we've built through pre-season, begin the league and take it into tonight, I think we've clearly seen that.
“I think it's just developing the mentality. The Celtic supporters come to see an attacking brand of football, an aggressive game. They're seeing that. They're seeing a team that's given absolutely everything. “Of course, you want to improve and I think there's still a lot of improvement to come within the team. The players are coming in, looking to settle at the club, looking to adapt to how we play.
"At this moment in time, the rhythm is very good and we want to keep developing that and improving it. It's the joy of being the Celtic manager. You hopefully get the chance to see that over the coming months."
