European ambitions can keep Brendan Rodgers at Celtic

Q: How satisfying was it for you that people have talked to you about if could you do it in Europe as a manager the last time and being able to do what you’ve done this time as well and prove that at Celtic you can take this team to performances like that?

Brendan Rodgers: “Well without being arrogant I always feel I can do that. I think I’ve done that in my career, I’ve won big games. When I was here the first time the reality is maybe our squad wasn’t built for that. Domestically we were very good and it was a challenge going into European football. I only need to look at when I was here the last time in Bayern. You’ll always have critics, you do something else and someone will say something else but that’s the way life is and the way the game is.

“So for me it’s, I’m not really too bothered what people think or would say. My focus is very clear on helping this club progress at that level and have credibility in Europe and that’s what I wanted to achieve. I think we’ve done that this season and now we’ve got to hopefully sustain that over the coming seasons.”

Q: Just looking at Saturday, how are the squad? Because obviously the vast majority of them played the full 95 minutes in Bayern as well. Does that take its toll? Do you have to freshen things up even more than usual?

Brendan Rodgers: “The players are in a great place physically. I think that’s been one of our hallmarks this season. The physicality of the team in the main has been really good, especially after European games. We obviously played on a Tuesday, we’ve had a couple of days to recover. We had a good session this morning and designed our plan for the game. Obviously we have a game on Saturday and a game on Tuesday. So yeah, it’s going to be a tight turnaround but whatever team I play I’ll be looking to impose our style on the game.”

Q: We were just chatting to Jeffrey Schlupp who was giving an insight into his 90 minutes and how frantic it was. For you, him coming in so soon but to have slotted in so seamlessly into that, what does that say about the player that he is?

Brendan Rodgers: “Yeah and the professionalism. He fits what we do here which is the reason why we brought him. I’d obviously spoken to Jeff in the summer with an idea of bringing him here then and then it worked out that we couldn’t get him here. There was a possibility that Kieran Tierney was coming back so we left it late. But obviously when that was the case he definitely wasn’t able to come back then Jeff was my first port of call really. You can see he has fantastic attributes, his physicality in the game. I thought he was brilliant the other night having to get through the game like he did.

“He was absolutely superb in the game. He settled in really well. He’s only been here a few weeks but he’s settling into the rhythm of the team which takes a bit of time. Just getting the feel for a team that’s having the ball a lot of the time and the movement patterns within that. But also defensively he was really strong against his former teammate. So yeah, I was so pleased for Jeff. He’s a good guy. He’s come here, fit in very easily and very well.”

Q: Would you like to have a conversation to prolong his stay?

Brendan Rodgers: “We’ll speak throughout our time here and communicate and we’ll see what develops.”

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