You snooze you lose? B
CELTIC Parkhead side opted to delay flight until yesterday ahead of cup final challenge
THERE were an extra few hours in bed on Thursday evening for the Celtic players, something that Brendan Rodgers believes will add a spring to the step of his players when they walk on to the Hampden turf on Sunday.
Having teed up a grand finale to their Europa League campaign with a dominating performance in Trondheim, Celtic will now turn their attention to claiming a seventh straight domestic trophy.
Preparations for the final were underway before a ball was kicked against Rosenborg, with Rodgers making the call to stay an extra day in Norway in order that the player were given ample time for recovery before being asked to go again.
“One of the key things is sleep when you are recovering,” explained Rodgers.“If we’d gone back on Thursday night, it would have been the early hours of Friday morning and the players would then have had to travel back to their homes.
“They might not have got back until about 3am. Then that means you get them in that little bit later on the Friday and there is a tiredness to the day and the work.
“It’s not quite the same, but this way, we have been able to travel home nice and relaxed.
“The players got a nice meal Thursday night, had a lie-in on Friday morning and then met to do some work in the pool or in the gym.
“We did it before after we played in Israel in my first season when we stayed overnight in Be’er Sheva.
“You are looking a number of weeks back at the preparation and it’s all about the players. Some staff and people might have wanted to get back earlier, but the game is about footballers and you have to look after them.”
The extra time to kick back after the game rather than the usual harried rush of making it on to the plane may well have allowed Rodgers to ponder over just what his starting XI might be tomorrow.
With Scott Brown and Olivier Ntcham fit and Ryan Christie and Scott Sinclair in form, there are big decisions to be made in terms of team selection.
Brown played for the final 15 minutes of the win over Rosenborg that leaves Celtic requiring only a point from their final Europa League meeting, but it was his first involvement since limping out of the 4-2 win over Hibs back in October.
Eight games have elapsed since then with Celtic hitting something of a purple patch
‘‘ The players got a nice meal Thursday night, had a lie-in on Friday
in them; 19 goals scored, just three conceded.
“Scott got some gametime and he’s an important player, but we’ll always pick the team to try and win the game,” said Rodgers.
“It’s a busy month for us and a busy period, so he’ll feature at some point.
“It’s good to see him back. He’s an important player for us, but he has a brain. He’s not silly.
“He knows the team have been playing really, really well and he is ready when he’s asked to play.
“It was nice for him to come in and help us to close out the game against Rosenborg, which he did really well. “You’ve always got to be honest with the players, of course. We always try to pick a team to win the game and the level of performance from the boys recently has been exceptional and it’s all started from that defensive base and how we press the game; that’s allowed us to create lots of opportunities.
“But it’s great when you have the guys coming back into contention – Scott Brown, obviously, and Olivier Ntcham playing at Hamilton.
“That’s what you want and it’s what we need when we’re playing so many games, that freshness.”
The opening weeks of this campaign were as challenging as anything that has gone before in Rodgers’