GO FOR GOALS

Rodgers tells Celtic to hit Rosenborg hard at home

BRENDAN RODGERS has vowed to go for goals against Rosenborg after Celtic secured a comfortable passage to the third qualifying round of the Champions League. Two goals from Scott Sinclair and second-half strikes from Tom Rogic and substitute Stuart Armstrong eased the Scottish champions to a 4-0 win over Linfield, progressing 6-0 on aggregate. Rosenborg are next up after the Norwegians, old Champions League foes, edged past Irish club Dundalk with a 2-1 win in extra-time. Favourites to progress to the play-off round, Rodgers (left) expects a difficult test but promised an attacking display in next week’s first leg at home. ‘We’ve watched some of their games already,’ said the Celtic boss. ‘They play 4-3-3 and are midway through their season. ‘They’ll have a good level of fitness, their structure is pretty much set. Norwegian teams are disciplined

and organised, but we know whoever we get won’t be easy. ‘But if we want to get to where we want we have to get through these games. ‘I’m pretty happy we can go in tactically ready and physically we’re still building up. We’re 100-per-cent different to where we were this time last season. ‘Rosenborg will come and not want to concede many. We play how we play, we’ll attack the game and see if we can build a lead for the second leg.’ Norwegian opposition will prompt a barrage of calls to former Celtic manager Ronny Deila — now coach of Valerenga — from Scottish journalists. Asked if he would also call on his predecessor, Rodgers admitted: ‘I haven’t really thought about it. Ronny is a good man and did great here. We’ve got the information if I need it and I know he is there. Mikael (Lustig) is there, too. ‘We will have plenty of detail.’ New £4.5million signing from Manchester City Olivier Ntcham made his competitive debut, replacing Armstrong in the starting line-up. Claiming there was no link between Armstrong’s relegation to the bench and his failure to pen a contract extension, Rodgers said: ‘There was no correlation. ‘There’s been no progress as of yet on the contract. ‘I love working with Stuart. ‘If there was any correlation then Scott Brown wouldn’t play — he’s also in his last year. ‘I’ve got to prepare players for the course of the season and I’m fortunate we have a strong squad.’ Pleased with the contribution of Ntcham and late substitute Kundai Benyu, Rodgers praised his side’s performance against his countrymen, adding: ‘Oli has come in and we’re trying to get him game time. ‘He had just over an hour and you can see his qualities. ‘Once he gets up to speed and gets relationships, he will be a great asset. ‘You can see his power and passing ability. ‘Benny is bright, he wants to go forward and wants to get into the box. It was nice for Stuart Armstrong to come in and finish well, Scotty was back scoring again. ‘If it wasn’t for Roy Carroll the scoreline could have been bigger.’ David Healy, the Linfield manager (left), was full of praise for Celtic and their manager, as he added: ‘Brendan is a fantastic ambassador for this incredible football club. ‘He came into our dressing room afterwards and shook every player by the hand. ‘This is the best squad Celtic have had for a long time. They could do well in the Champions League. ‘There were times they had five and six forwards. ‘They came at us at 100mph. I think 4-0 was about fair.’