Rodgers: It’s not over yet

JOHN McGARRY

BRENDAN RODGERS has told his players to be prepared to die with their boots on in Spain tonight. Two goals down to Valencia from the first leg in Glasgow, Celtic face a monumental task to turn this Europa League tie on its head. Taking hope from the way his side started the game last week, Rodgers feels getting the first goal in the Mestalla will change the dynamic of the game. Readying himself for the possibility of an exit at the

first knock-out round, though, the Celtic manager is adamant that the attitude of his players in that eventuality will still be hugely important. Asked what his last words will be to his players tonight, Rodgers said: ‘I’ll ask them if we have this shot at getting through, do they believe they can win? If they do, no matter how tentative it is, if it’s a yes — let’s give it everything. Let’s fight, let’s tackle, let’s play. ‘If we are going to go out, let’s give it our best shot.’ Celtic have never won a competitive game in Spain and even a one-goal victory tonight would not be enough to see them through on aggregate. Rodgers, who welcomes defender Jozo Simunovic back into the fold, says the chance to create history should be all the incentive his players need. ‘It would,’ he added. ‘It’s a great challenge for us. I saw enough last week in terms of we started the game well but lost our way a wee bit after 25 minutes and gave them confidence in the game. And the first goal is crucial. ‘If you’re a team playing away from home and get that first goal, it calms you down and it allows you to relax and play your football. ‘Then, literally five minutes after half-time, we concede a second and 2-0 sort of breaks our rhythm, they get some comfort and it was disappointing for us then. ‘But I think we come into the game, like we’ve done over the past two-and-a-half years, whenever we’ve had disappointing results or performances — or both — we’ve always tried to respond. We did that at the weekend in a tough league game and we carry the confidence from that to now to go again in this. ‘We know the perception will be that we’re out, but it’s never what drives me with the team. ‘It’s always been that we have to find hope in relation to the games we have and, if we believe we can do it, even if it’s a tentative belief, you have to go for it. ‘You have to play with energy and give everything and fight to the very end. If we can get the first goal then who knows?’ Celtic reserved their best display of the group stage to defeat RB Leipzig in Glasgow, but failed to follow that up against the Spaniards. Insisting his players will be driven by a desire to right the sense of injustice they feel, Rodgers said: ‘We recognise we didn’t play well enough. ‘We made mistakes. We know you have to really concentrate. These are some of the things we’ve shown over the last week or so in terms of our video with the players. ‘We’ve shown them where we were good in the game, sometimes that gets lost in the result. ‘But there were parts of the game, we started with real confidence, but then had a period of six or seven minutes where we gave the ball away cheaply and learned you can’t do that at this level. Ultimately it’s about concentration.’