25 minutes of sheer torment were worth it to see us reach the group stage again!

SAYS BRENDAN RODGERS

BRENDAN RoDgERs goal celebrations are usually a restrained affair. The Celtic manager rarely ventures beyond pursed lips and a single fist raised towards the sky. Martin o’Neill he isn’t.

The reaction of the Parkhead technical area to olivier Ntcham’s 80th-minute goal in Astana, then, told its own tale. of the importance scotland’s champions attach to reaching the Champions League.

Rodgers paced to the edge of the touchline, both arms in the air for once. Assistant manager Chris Davies punched the sky, celebrating like a man who had just scored a winner in the final. The overwhelming emotion on the Celtic bench was relief. sheer bloody relief.

Celtic put five past Hapoel Be’er sheva a year ago before clinging to Champions League qualification by the tips of their fingers in the second leg in Israel. Astana provided the proof that history doesn’t always repeat itself, but it often rhymes.

If an 8-4 aggregate victory was comfortable in the end, the opening 25 minutes of the second half was an alarming experience. The calm and composure of recent weeks and months gone, a makeshift defence was breached three times. only wild finishing from the electric Patrick Twumasi prevented a fifth and sixth goal.

Changing the team, the respite came when Ntcham capped a mature performance with a critical goal ten minutes from time, Leigh griffiths adding a third in stoppage-time. By the conclusion of a hot, edgy evening, the end justified the means.

‘I will take 25 minutes like we had in this game over the course of a qualifying campaign if the end result is us getting through,’ reflected Rodgers afterwards. ‘That’s an absolutely brilliant achievement. We know we need to be better and what we have to work on.

‘The money we get is also huge for the scottish game as it goes into the development of youth players. Commercially, it’s great for the area, too. scotland is not the richest country, so this brings different revenue streams into the country.

‘It’s another great step for us in our project. You all see how hard it is to qualify. Not many people know of Astana — but they have invested a lot of money and coming here can be difficult in terms of travel.

‘our club hadn’t been in the Champions League for a while. We found a way last year and we found a better way this year. And there has been an improvement.’

At the heart of Celtic’s qualification for tonight’s group-stage draw in Monaco was a calculated gamble.

Deprived of two experienced central defenders in Dedryck Boyata and Erik sviatchenko, Rodgers asked midfielder Nir Bitton to play alongside Jozo simunovic in central defence.

The plan worked well in a 5-0 first-leg victory. Less well when simunovic succumbed to a mystery ailment before the second leg, forcing teenager Kristoffer Ajer to fill the void.

Bitton and Ajer had never played together. There were times, in a frantic, fluctuating game of football, when it showed.

Boyata is on the way back, while a £10million bid from Burnley for simunovic has yet to materialise. Come the group stage, Rodgers needs his first-choice central defenders fit and ready for duty. ‘It’s an annual thing and, thankfully, this year we only had a 25-minute block to get through,’ continued the Parkhead boss. ‘We had to manage the moment the best we could. Astana changed their system and that became difficult. When they got the third goal, we had to try and plug the gap and work our socks off on the side of the field to try to get the message across.

‘At 4-1, there’s a period of the game left, but we took a deep breath and then had to make sure that we didn’t get too emotional.

‘We had to see the game through. We put Tom (Rogic) on and the next goal was important. Momentum is important and when we got the second goal, we were able to take it on from there.

‘We always looked as if we could score, but I expect us to be better with the ball. But you see even with the better teams in the world it can be tough.’

Most teams can cope with losing one or two key players. That Celtic still qualified after losing Boyata, sviatchenko, simunovic and Moussa Dembele for the most important matches of the season is a testament to the improvisational powers of the manager.

scott sinclair and Ntcham show sound judgment in the transfer market. Rodgers is entitled, now, to expect funding for players capable of carrying the team closer to his stated goal of competing in the Champions League group stage.

‘There are frailties in every team,’ he conceded. ‘You can shine a torch on every single side and pick up issues, but we’ve come through this qualification well. We know that we need that extra bit of quality but I still want to work with these players to make them better.

‘We have young players and, at times, when the momentum goes from you, it can all become a bit of a blur.

‘You saw it with Psg last year against Barcelona — and that’s with guys who are on £300,000 a week! ‘That scenario didn’t go through my mind — I had to be clear. The players deserve a huge amount of credit for swinging the momentum back round in their favour and getting goals. ‘We lost the game and I wanted the performance to be better. We started well and had good control, but it’s a learning night for our team exposed to that sort of pressure. I’m very proud.’ There was time, before a 5am arrival in glasgow, to contemplate possible opponents in today’s draw. Celtic supporters yearn for a meeting with Real Madrid. Rodgers isn’t fussed by the options on offer.

‘You know when you come into this level that no matter who you get, it will be fantastic,’ he said.

‘We can sit back with pride on Thursday and be happy that we’re qualified and Celtic’s name is in with the elite clubs at Champions League level. It’s irrelevant who we get as they will all be great games.’

sometimes Rodgers can see the headlines coming. Asked to speculate on the potential for a return to Liverpool to pit his wits against Anfield successor Jurgen Klopp, the pursed lips are back in evidence.

‘I’ll just wait and see who we get,’ he added.

Like a fraught 25 minutes in Astana, it was worth the effort.