I WANT CELTS AND GERS TO WIN TONIGHT
GROUP B
FROM BACK PAGE for an away win over Rosenborg to stay in the hunt for qualification out of Group B.
Back in Glasgow, Rangers face Villarreal at Ibrox knowing a Group G victory can also launch them towards the last 32.
The domestic rivalry between the clubs is unrivalled while this week has been dominated by swipes over celebrations and ticket allocations.
But Rodgers believes success for both on the European front works for the greater good of the Scottish game’s name.
The Celtic boss hopes both teams can progress beyond Christmas in the competition and said: “Of course the European game is becoming very difficult for countries like ourselves.
“So if the likes of ourselves and Rangers can get through it would be great for the nation, for both clubs, that’s what we want.
“It’s still very much our ambitions and I hope we can do that.
“We go into it and you look after yourselves and your own club. But for the bigger picture, which is important for our football, it’s great if we can get as many teams as possible into European games.”
Rodgers has urged his players to focus on doing their own job in the Lerkendal Stadium.
Talk of a carve-up in the other group game between Red Bull sides Salzburg and Leipzig has littered pre-match discussions among supporters.
It comes as Rosenborg toy with leaving out key men with one eye on Sunday’s Norwegian Cup Final against Stromsgodset.
But Rodgers insists there can be no loss of attention as his team must get a win.
He said: “You can’t afford to worry about what’s going on in the other game.
“You’ve got too much to focus on in your own game and our purpose is very clear going into the game. We want to win and have to take care of that side of it. We want to do that.
“The knowledge that goes on around it, I tend not to worry about that in any game. Essentially it’s about having a clear purpose in your own play and knowing clearly what our objective is.
“We want to win this game and go back into our very last game with a fighting chance to qualify. It’s as simple as that.”
Asked about Rosenborg’s potential team selection, he added: “I really don’t think about it because I can’t control that, so I’ll sleep fine. I don’t worry about what team someone else is going to put out.
“Rosenborg have earned the right to play whatever team they want to play.
“It’s their last home game in the competition. They’ve just won their league and celebrated it, as they should.
“They also have a cup final like us at the weekend. It is all about your own objective.”
And Rodgers believes recent visits to Trondheim will stand his team in good stead for their task.
Last season saw Celtic grab a 1-0 win to qualify for the play-off round of the Champions League.
And earlier this term the Hoops were able to dig out a 0-0 draw that again ensured they progressed in the top competition before exiting to AEK Athens.
Rodgers believes his team are in even better shape now and said: “We’ve played well here.
“The first game we won 1-0, our actual game was really good. Probably the last result here too was a good result to performance.
“That kind of typified where we were at the start of the season. Now we have clarity in our results but also how we’ve been playing.
“We come here in a much better phase of our game and hopefully we can show that.”
P SALZBURG ....... 4 LEIPZIG ............ 4 CELTIC .............. 4 ROSENBORG ..... 4 W 4 2 2 0