Celtic boss Rodgers tells PSG ‘You can’t buy history’
● Parkhead club have something money can’t buy, insists manager
Brendan Rodgers insists Celtic possess something even the apparently limitless resources of Paris Saint-germain cannot buy as they attempt to become the dominant force in European football.
The Celtic manager believes his club’s history is simply priceless in an era in which rich owners, such as the Qatar Sports Investment group who bought PSG five years ago, are “making a mockery” of Uefa’s Financial Fair Play rules.
The French champions, who crushed Celtic 5-0 in Glasgow back in September, are under investigation by European football’s governing body for potential breaches in those regulations in a season in which they have assembled a £400 million front three of Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and Edinson Cavani.
As Celtic prepare for tonight’s daunting return fixture in Group B of the Champions League at the Parc des Princes, Rodgers agrees that it will take time before world football will embrace PSG who were formed in 1970.
“PSG are trying to create a history here and that takes a number of years,” said Rodgers. “The warmth that goes out to clubs like Barcelona, for example, could go back to Johan Cruyff and the era where he was there. Rinus Michels before that, they were creating something. That is history, so it is time, like Manchester City in the English Premier League. You can’t buy history, it is about winning trophies, winning titles. Here, if you think about PSG, you look and I think everyone will agree it is arguably the most exciting front three in world football. But to back that up you have to win trophies and sustain that success over many games. Then you get the kids and people supporting you, because that is what naturally happens in any sport.
“Los Angeles Lakers were popular because they were winning. Liverpool, a big support all over the world, because they won five European Cups. PSG will be supported when they win and win consistently. Barcelona – there is an affection for them because they have been winners.
“Have Celtic got something you can’t buy in terms of that history? Yes, absolutely. You can’t buy that.
“We will never be able to do what PSG are doing in terms of finance. That is why people will think it is wrong in football. But it is modern football in every format.
“But Celtic have something a lot of clubs don’t have – a rich history, a support and a fanbase a lot of clubs don’t have.
“Speak about PSG in 20 years time and see where they are. This is the formation now of a club that has investment and they clearly want to be winners. Can they then sustain that over time?
“If you are talking big, iconic clubs – and for me a big club has history, support, fan base and all that – then Celtic, of course, has all that. But we don’t have anywhere near the finances of a club like PSG.”
Asked if he felt the potential breaches of FFP diminished the Champions League, Rodgers added: “Well, others can spend it, it is whether they decide to or not.
“It certainly does make a mockery of it, because it is hard to find where the fair play is in it when it comes to paying £200m for the buy-out clause for a player.
“But I don’t tend to get bogged down in that side of it. Because there are so many rich clubs out there. Now you have countries looking after clubs, not just rich owners. Ultimately they can bring more of the talents together, where in the past you used to have just two or three talents.
“But I tend not to overthink about it, the money in the game now is astronomical, it benefits so many people, players, owners, fans, but there are rules there to govern the game and they have to try to stick by them the best they can.”
BRENDAN RODGERS “It makes a mockery of it, because it is hard to find where the fair play is”
Two months ago, Celtic suffered as chastening a defeat as has ever been known on their own patch.
The record 5-0 loss to Paris Saint-germain on matchday one of their Champions League group stage campaign also prompted the rarity of Brendan Rodgers publicly criticising his players.
The Celtic manager accused them of playing like “under12s” during a first half in which PSG’S £400 million strikeforce of Neymar, Edinson Cavani and Kylian Mbappe all scored to give the French champions a 3-0 half-time lead.
Even an improved secondhalf display by Rodgers’ men was not enough to prevent two more goals late in the game for as impressive a visiting team as have visited Scotland in many a year.
Tonight in the Parc des Princes, redemption is highly unlikely to come in the form of a victory for Celtic who are rated an all-time record of 28-1 by the bookmakers to triumph against a PSG side who have sustained their all-conquering form in the group since that opening night.
But Rodgers believes there is still an opportunity to right some of the wrongs of that heavy home defeat, regardless of the result.
“It’s about developing the personality of our team when you play teams of this level in the Champions League,” he said. “I recognise at the point in time we played PSG in September, they had just brought in £400m worth of players. They were excited themselves, it was their first Champions League game together and we probably bore the brunt of their quality and ambition.
“But I’ll always demand more and I think the players recognised it themselves afterwards. The second half was better. We showed in our last game against Bayern Munich at Celtic Park, the personality and pride we want to play with.
“I’m not naive enough not to know the level we are playing against here. We are up against the best of the best. It’s not just a one-tier jump up. This is really operating against the world’s best. That can be difficult.
“People say it’s similar for
PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN
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Celtic playing in Scotland but it’s totally different to teams in the Premiership playing against us. You are up against the elite on the planet here.
“But my intention is always ‘okay, I respect that – but let’s make them fight’. You can still come out of a game having lost, as we did 2-1 against Bayern last time, and have pride. You can have people saying ‘you’re a good side and you’re tough to play against’.
“So that’s the aim. Even though PSG have a group of players who are steam-rollering everyone, can we go and put on a performance which gives us pride in it?
“I always think after every negative, like the 5-0 defeat against PSG, there is a positive you can take from it. It is what the reaction is, like it was when we lost 7-0 in Barcelona the previous year and it wasn’t a good night for us.
“There are enough issues playing against these teams butcanyouthenhelpyourown players to find the solutions? As a team, we try to learn. We have to take defeat and it can be hard at times but that one, on that first night against PSG, was a tough one for us. That was football at the very highest level. The number of people who have told me that was the best away performance they have seen at Celtic Park is amazing. There have been some great teams but PSG took the ball on the edge of their own six-yard box, being pressed. That shows the belief and qualities of worldclass players.”
The contrast in environment for Celtic in the French capital could hardly be starker in comparison to last Saturday’s trip to Dingwall where they ground out a 1-0 win against Ross County to maintain their dominance of domestic football. It provides a level of demand which Rodgers, pictured left, feels his players are becoming more adept at meeting.
“We know the steps we make,” he added. “We had to do a professional job at Ross County, which we did. Then you come to Paris and it’s a totally different level in every aspect of football.
“You have to cope with that and our players are learning to do that all the time. There’s