BOSS RODGERS WARNS CELTIC: TIE’S NOT OVER
PARKHEAD MEN HAILED AS A ‘JOY TO WATCH’ AFTER RALLYING TO BEAT ROSENBORG
Boss Brendan Rodgers described his Celtic side as “joy to watch” after they came from behind to beat Rosenborg 3-1 in the first-leg of their Champions League second qualifying round last night.
The Norwegian champions, whose side included ex-Sunderland loanee Nicklas Bendtner – took the lead in the 15th minute through defender Birger Meling.
However, the home side rolled up their sleeves and goals from striker Odsonne Edouard (inset) and fellow Frenchman Olivier Ntcham either side of the break put them ahead before Edouard stretched that lead with a well-taken 75th minute goal.
Rodgers, whose side edged past Rosenburg 1-0 on aggregate last season in qualifying, said: “It was a real demonstration of maturity and staying calm under that pressure and at the end of the game we could have had five or six goals.
“I sat here last year at 0-0 and was happy but felt we could have been better but tonight I sit in a much better place, with how we played, with a two-goal advantage.
“But we know it is going to be another tough game for us over there.
“The team is maturing and evolving all the time at this stage of the season but for me it was a joy to watch this evening. Not just all the good stuff, dealing with the adversity during the game, that is a part of it.
“It is not always clean and pure and scoring five and six goals, you judge your team as well when they are down and they were absolutely fantastic and showed that mentality to win well.”
On 20-year-old Edouard, bought for a club-record fee of £9million from Paris St Germain in the summer after a successful loan spell last season, the Northern Irishman said: “He is a class player. He has shown that from the first day he walked into the building. The first goal looked so simple but you see his movement to create the space and he just passed it in.
“The second goal ... he times his run perfectly and a mark of the top striker, to have that confidence on the big occasion, to show that calmness under pressure, was brilliant.”
Rini Coolen, installed as Rosenborg interim boss last week after the Norwegian club controversially sacked their manager Kare Ingebrigsten, admitted Celtic were superior but refused to concede the tie. He said: “Celtic were the better team and deserved to win, no doubt about that. “We will not give up. “It will be very difficult, very tough. Celtic are at a different level but that doesn’t mean a team wins.
“We are at home and play in front of our home crowd which will help us a lot so we will not give up and you never know.”