Rodgers’ golden touch shines
● Bitton’s display against Astana silences doubters as manager plots smooth path through Champions League qualifiers
the group stage,” he added. “First, we need to get there. Secondly, if we get there we need to see the draw. But we have talked before that one of the things we want to achieve this season is to go to the Champions League. As soon as we get there then we need to take part and we want to go as far as we can.
“Just now, though, it is still too early. We need to go to Kazakhstan and play our best. Then we will see. I think everyone saw who was the better team in the first leg and 5-0 should be enough for us. The most important thing was to keep a clean sheet. Now we will try and get an away goal to really finish this tie off.
“After the third goal on Wednesday night, we really took control of the game. We pressed Astana well in the second half, took the possession and took them out of the game.
“I thought Leigh Griffiths had an amazing game, Scott Sinclair got two goals and James Forrest was great, too. It starts from the top. When you press them well and take the energy out of the other team, then you get a reward for that. I’m really happy that we managed to score five goals and kept a clean sheet.
“I’ve said before that we are much better team now, compared to 12 months ago. I won’t say much better individuals, but we are a much better team. We understand more what the gaffer wants from us, his philosophy and everything he is trying to do.”
The contribution of Olivier Ntcham was another eyecatching aspect of Celtic’s victory, the French midfielder steadily illustrating why Rodgers felt his £4.5 million summer capture from Manchester City would be a key factor in continuing the overall development of his team as a European force.
Encouragingly for Celtic supporters, Ntcham himself is quick to point out there is much more to come from him.
“For me, I think I can be better,” said the powerful and classy 21-year-old. “Maybe some of my passing could’ve been better. I had two or three balls I wasn’t happy with.
“But I thought it was the best performance of the team since I joined Celtic. It wasn’t easy, despite the result, but when you score at the times we did, the other team gets low on confidence. We can’t say this tie is over yet. It’s still only one game and I hope we’re going to win over there and that will be it.”
0 Despite Celtic’s 5-0 victory over Astana on Wednesday night, Nir Bitton is refusing to think about