The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Pride and passion as
Paris: Rodgers expects Hoops to stand tall as they face might of PSG
Manager Brendan Rodgers believes Celtic will be coming up against the best of the best when they take on Paris St Germain tonight.
The Parkhead side lost 5-0 on match day one of its Champions league campaign to big-spending Paris, who, with four Group B wins out of four, have already qualified for the knockout stages along with second-placed Bayern Munich.
The French club handed the Hoops their heaviest home European defeat and speaking at the Parc de Princes last night, Rodgers put his side’s task into context while admitting another heavy defeat could happen again.
He said: “We certainly hope we can get a better performance and result.
“We have taken encouragement as the games have gone on.
“Our last performance against Bayern Munich (lost 2-1) was excellent. If you don’t get the result, for us, it is about taking pride in the performance. So, that is something we hope we can achieve.
“We understand that we are playing against a team that is arguably the best of the best which is a huge challenge for every team they come up against, not just us.
“Their team has a great chance of winning the competition, Paris have big-game experience and quality in every position and that includes the bench as well. When you have the goal threat that this team has, with Neymar, Edinson Cavani, Angel Di Maria and Kylian Mbappe and this type of quality you can go anywhere knowing you can score goals and win games.
“It is a tough ask but for me there is always optimism in the game because there is always so much intent that you can take from them and for us it is about having that personality and pride in how we play. We can be as good as we want to be but it may still happen. You only need to look at their results and how well they beat teams.
“We would like to obviously put up a better show in relation to performance and the scoreline. That is key for us and hopefully we can do that.”
Rodgers believes Hoops striker Moussa Dembele will have a “big motivation” when he returns to his former club and tipped the 21-yearold to become one of the best players in the world in time.
The Northern Irishman said: “Moussa left Paris when he was 15 and progressed very well for those formative years.
“He made the step out of Fulham to come to us.
“When he left Fulham he wanted to come to a club where he would experience pressure.
“He is playing in front of 60,000 every other