LEARNERS v EARNERS
Branded 12-year-olds after first game, now Rodgers wants his stars to show they’re all grown up when they face final exam in Paris
BRENDAN RODGERS hasn’t had much cause to dish out the punishment exercises in his 18 months at the Celtic helm but he gave his squad six of the best after shipping five at home to PSG.
The Hoops boss didn’t hold back in the aftermath of the pummelling as he described his side as playing like a bunch of Under-12s.
Rodgers has since revised his viewpoint and admitted his men were a tad unfortunate to run into the school bullies on the day they first realised they were head and shoulders above the rest of the class.
The constant beatings dished out by PSG since then has softened his stance on his own lot but it doesn’t mean he’s ready to roll over when they go back for round two tonight.
He’ll forgive the schoolboy defending back in Glasgow that night – but only if his pupils show they have learned their lesson in the Champions League this evening.
Rodgers wants his players to be ready for their final examination in the Parc des Princes. He said: “I always think after every negative there is a positive you can take from it.
“The crime isn’t always that – it is the reaction, like it was when we were in Barcelona and it wasn’t a good night for us.
“There are enough issues playing against these teams but can you then help your own players to find the solutions and that is what we have always done. As a team, we try to learn.
“We have to take defeat and it can be hard at times but that one, on that first night, it was a tough one for us.
“That was football at the very highest level. The number of people who have told me that was the best away display they have seen at Celtic Park.
“There have been some great teams but they took the ball on the edge of their own six-yard box, being pressed. That shows the belief and qualities of world-class players.”
They might be out of this world but that doesn’t mean Rodgers will be happy to just avoid a night of French capital punishment.
He said: “It’s about developing the personality of the team when you play sides of this level in the Champions League. I recognise at that point in time PSG had just brought in £400million worth of players.
“They were excited themselves. It was their first Champions League game together and we probably bore the brunt of their quality and ambition.
“But I’ll always demand more and I think the players recognised it themselves afterwards.
“We showed in our last game against Bayern the personality and pride we want to play with.
“I’m not naive enough not to know the level we are playing against here.
“It’s not just a one tier jump up. This is really operating against the world’s best. PSG are the best of the best right now. That can be difficult.”
Rodgers knows how some of the rest of Scottish football will view it though –
this is the shoe being on the other foot for Celtic.
They have the power and resources to pound domestic rivals but they don’t like it when they get a dose of their own medicine.
Rodgers doesn’t go along with the notion. He believes the quality gap is far steeper for his side at this level than it is on the home front.
He said: “We’ve got certain added bits of quality in one or two areas of the field.
“Of course we have the highest budget and there is expectancy to win but we go from where we are to the best players in world football.
“We’re not talking about the jump to the Premier League or the best team in Belgium or Norway.
“But that is the competition. That is what we are in it for, to play in and also to develop.
“People say it’s similar for Celtic playing in Scotland but it’s totally different to teams in the Scottish Premiership playing against us.
“You are up against the elite on the planet here. But my intention is always ‘Okay, I respect that – but let’s make them fight.’
“You can still come out of a game having lost, as we did against Bayern last time, and have pride.
“You can come out of it having people saying ‘You’re a good side and you’re tough to play against.’ So that’s the aim.
“Even though PSG have a group of players who are steamrolling everyone, can we put on a display that we can be proud of ?”
Rodgers is getting used to the leaps though. Celtic managers in recent years have had to get their heads around playing in Dingwall one week then in one of the major European arenas the next.
You’ll never hear him complaining or trotting out the overused line about not getting tested enough at home to prepare them for the continent.
Rodgers views each test in isolation and tonight’s is about as tough as it gets.
He’s got to find a way to stop Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and Edinson Cavani up front. He’s got to get the ball off the likes of Adrien Rabiot in midfield and even at the back PSG have three Brazilians who Rodgers admitted are masters at “hiding the ball”.
It’s a terrifying prospect but the Hoops boss is not a man who scares easily
Rodgers said: “We had to do a professional job at Ross County, which we did. Then you come to Paris and it’s a different level in every aspect.
“You have to cope with that and our players are learning to do that all the time. There’s an excitement to it. It’s not a chore or something that frightens us.
“Like last season, as the competition goes on you grow into it and get a greater belief in your work. Hopefully we perform better.”