Painful experiences from Munich, Madrid, Paris and Barcelona would ordinarily cause Celtic to approach a Champions League trip to Borussia Dortmund with at least an element of trepidation. Instead, the striking confidence exuded by Brendan Rodgers tells the story of a team that has discovered its groove long before the clocks change. Rodgers is not promising a statement victory against last season’s beaten finalists but he clearly believes such an outcome is possible.
“For us it’s looking to bring our game to the next level,” Rodgers said. “I think how we’ve been performing over probably the last six, seven months has just been increasing.
“Now we’ve come to this level and we’re under no illusions about that. We’re playing against a team that are challenging the very top end of elite football. But for us, I’ve always said, whether it’s domestically or whether it’s away in this competition, it’s making us a really difficult team to play against, with and without the ball. That’s 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.
“Bring our game, which is to press, to fight, to run. We know at times that quality drives you back and then it’s 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.”
Rodgers is perfectly happy to propel the theory he is managing a Celtic side that can be a different beast in Europe to the one that has endured harrowing evenings against the best in the continent over the past decade. “Mindset, belief and experience,” he said of the change in complexion. “I think we’ve also added some players that give us something in key areas of the pitch that you need.”
Indeed, Celtic skipped off the plane in Germany on Monday having won nine out of nine so far this season. Scored 33, conceded four. The most notable fixture was not the 3-0 dismissal of Rangers, instead a 5-1 dismantling of Slovan Bratislava to open the Champions League campaign.
“We’re arriving in a great place,” Rodgers said. “I track it back to pre-season. The games that we played there, we built up pre-season with some big teams and we were able to look at certain aspects of how we wanted to play at this level. I was very, very pleased with what I’ve seen and that has just continued right the way through. So to come to here, it’s a great opportunity for us and I’m excited by that.”
Celtic must, however, do without their influential centre-back Cameron Carter-Vickers. The American has remained in Glasgow for treatment on a toe injury.
Borussia Dortmund Kobel; Ryerson, Sule, Schlotterbeck, Bensebaini; Gross, Can; Adeyemi, Brandt, Gittens; Guirassy.
Celtic Schmeichel; Johnston, Trusty, Scales, Taylor; Bernardo, McGregor, Engels; Kuhn, Furuhashi, Maeda.
Referee José Sanchez (Esp).
Anybody hoping for fireworks between Rodgers and his opposite number at Dortmund, Nuri Sahin, will be disappointed. Sahin abbreviated a loan spell at Liverpool, then managed by Rodgers, in 2012 and was less than complimentary about the Northern Irishman upon departure from Anfield. His career was kickstarted by a certain J Klopp at Dortmund.
Sahin, though, has no desire to dwell negatively on the past. “I liked his training sessions, they were very interesting,” said the former Turkey international of Rodgers. “I was already taking notes for my own coaching career.
“I don’t know what I said back in the day when I was young but the only thing was I played in a different position than I usually played. The problem for me was Steven Gerrard played in my position. So I had to adjust with my position and this was the only thing.
“Everything else, I really enjoyed my time at Liverpool and also under Brendan. I enjoyed every training session with him, his ideas were very possession-oriented, playing in the opposition half. I can only say good things about him and my time there.”
Rodgers labelled Sahin “a good guy”. Celtic’s manager said: “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’ll be really good to see him when he’s making his first steps as a manager. He’ll now know the challenges of when you do manage and all the various things that come up with being a manager. So I’m looking forward to seeing him.”
Rodgers left the distinct impression he thinks he can do more than that.
