In the hype around Brendan Rodgers’ return to Celtic last month, there were some pretty big claims and ambitions being reported by journalists around Scotland about the manager’s expectations of the future. One columnist suggested that Rodgers’ private aim was to bring the Bhoys to a European final.
Publicly, the Celtic boss is never going to go that far, especially when the Bhoys haven’t even played a competitive game during his second spell in charge. Nonetheless, Rodgers isn’t shying away from the challenge. And he wants his team to at least be competing in Europe after Christmas.
Speaking in a media conference with a number of Scottish and Irish journalists today, Rodgers said when asked about the UEFA Champions League: “We have to be realistic. It’s really exciting and obviously it is a competition that is the highest level that you can play in, in club football. What’s important for us is to be really competitive against the top, top level teams.
“European football as a whole – it’s to try and get as far as we possibly can in whatever competition we’re in. Of course, when we arrive in the Champions League our ambition is to qualify out of that group stage. That is a huge challenge. However, it’s a challenge that we’ll embrace. If not, then we want to try and ensure we have European football after Christmas and go as far as we possibly can.”
For Rodgers, it sounds like third place in the group is the absolute minimum he is expecting from his team. That would see them parachute into the UEFA Europa League last 32. From Pot Four, it’s a tall order, but the manager has done exactly that before with Celtic.
In the 2017/18 season, the Bhoys finished third in a group that included Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich and Anderlecht, despite being the lowest seed.
Clearly, the new Celtic manager feels that is achievable again. It’d be a fantastic result for fans to see the Bhoys back in the knockout rounds of Europe and seeking to end an unenviable streak that stretches back to 2004.
Rodgers’ outfit will have to be at their best to get there, and perhaps even have one or two bits of luck along the way, but the manager isn’t going to settle for a similar result to last year’s bottom-placed finish in the group.
In other news, Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers clears up Alistair Johnston injury but the news could be better.
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