ANDERLICKED
CELTS BOUNCE BACK WITH GOALS FROM GRIFFITHS, ROBERTS & SINCLAIR
BRENDAN RODGERS last night hailed his Champions League glory Bhoys and insisted the best has yet to come.
Celtic swept aside Anderlecht for their first group stage win on the road in five years and their first clean sheet away from home at the sharpest end of UEFA competition. Leigh Griffiths, Patrick Roberts and Scott
Sinclair struck as the Scottish champions took a huge step towards European participation beyond Christmas.
Celtic now face a double-header with Bayern Munich, who were thumped 3-0 at PSG last night, as they gave themselves the chance to dream of finishing runners-up in Group B.
The only downside on a night of success was a hamstring injury for Scotland skipper Scott Brown ahead of the World Cup qualifiers with Slovakia and Slovenia.
That will be assessed in the next 24 hours while fellow Hoops star Stuart Armstrong is also a doubt after sitting out last night’s game on the bench with a calf strain.
Rodgers said: “It was an outstanding performance and result. It was a real pressure game for us.
“It was a brilliant team performance. There are still areas to improve but they were exceptional.
“The first two goals came from pressing the game and you saw the fitness of the team at the third goal when we had five players in box.
“For a Scottish team to come away, win 3-0 and keep a clean sheet at this level is obviously a big achievement.
“It shows the development of the squad in the last year or so. There is a long way to go in the group. PSG won 3-0 tonight so maybe our 5-0 wasn’t so bad.
“We will reflect on the game but I believe we can be better than we were tonight. The players deserve huge credit on the back of such a high intensity game at the weekend. They deserve all the plaudits they get.”
Celtic hadn’t won on the road in the group stage since a 3-2 win at Spartak Moscow in 2012.
Before last night it was their only victory in 27 attempts away from Celtic Park and the Hoops had also gone 10 group stage games without victory.
Rodgers said: “Progress is what you are looking for as a coach, if you look at our last three away fixtures in this competition.
“Moenchengladbach was a great improvement, so was Manchester City and now we have this.
“It’s all about belief at this level. They are playing against top-class players and fantastic clubs. Anderlecht are Belgian champions and have a huge history.
“For our guys to show that kind of improvement is great credit to them. They will gain belief and confidence but they also know they have to continually improve.”
The clean sheet pleased the Hoops gaffer as much as anything as he heaped praise on his rearguard who haven’t conceded a goal in four games since the PSG pummelling.
He added: “A lot of people look at the goals we score and creativity we have but we have a defensive philosophy which is about being compact and aggressive.
“When good teams get through you need to be able to defend your box.
“You saw our concentration, the amount of times Anderlecht were caught offside. The defensive line was good. Every result is big at this stage but 3-0 was huge.”
Brown limped off near the end and will be monitored ahead of the Hibs game this weekend, with the crucial double header for Scotland also looming next week.
Rodgers said: “Scott said when he came off that he felt something tight. He didn’t want to aggravate it. We won’t know about it for the next 24 or 48 hours.”
Brown said: “Hopefully it’s not serious. I’ll have to wait and get it checked up and we’ll see how we are.”