Celtic entered their match against Sturm Graz amid much focus on the manager.
Brendan Rodgers’ ‘Honda Civic’ comments after the team’s defeat to Dundee caused a media storm, with some accusing him of deflecting the blame and hammering his players.
It was Celtic’s first league defeat of the season, and left them five points behind Hearts in the Scottish Premiership table.
The Sturm Graz victory was a much-needed win and positive result. Goals from Liam Scales and Benjamin Nygren completed a second-half turnaround after the Celts were behind at the break.
And for Scales, the Celtic players were motivated by the Honda Civic comments.
Celtic’s Liam Scales on Brendan Rodgers’ Honda Civic comments’
Scales has been touted as one of Celtic’s best performers this season, with several players badly out of form.
So perhaps it was fitting that he broke the deadlock for the Hoops, with the team’s attack struggling in front of goal.
READ MORE: Five things we learned as Celtic come from behind for first Europa League win against Sturm Graz
Speaking to TNT Sports after the match, Scales reflected on the team’s performance, and admitted that the comments had been a motivation.
He said: “We knew we needed to get a result in this competition, so the relief is there. But I think we deserved it with that performance.
“I think it was just the tempo. The tempo of how we played. The goal we conceded was just a good piece of quality, there’s not much you can do about that.
“I think we reacted well. We kept going. We missed a couple of chances, but we kept creating, and the speed was there that we were missing in the last few weeks.
“I think the manager’s just frustrated with how the results are and some of the performances were.
“We were all in the same boat, we all thought the same thing, we needed to up our game. So it motivated us to do better.”
Rodgers said that the team were more like a Range Rover Sport after the game. He’ll be hoping that Scales can continue performing like a Rolls Royce.
Celtic’s Europa League campaign so far
As mentioned, this was the Hoops’ first Europa League win of the season.
Given the difficulty of the upcoming fixtures, it felt like an essential one. A draw against Red Star in Belgrade and a dismal home defeat to Braga had placed a huge emphasis on the Sturm Graz game.
With four points, the Celts sit in 21st place in the League Phase table. They are four points off the top eight, which guarantees a place in the round of 16.
Up next for Rodgers’ side in Europe is a trip to face Midtjylland – remarkably, the Danes sit at the top of the table after three games, having defeated Sturm Graz, Nottingham Forest and Maccabi Tel-Aviv.
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