I had a chance to become Roberto’s right-hand Mancini

EUROPA LEAGUE Rodgers came close to taking former Man City gaffer’s offer but now he can’t wait to go head to head in Hoops’ Euro clash with Zenit

BRENDAN RODGERS will square up with Roberto Mancini in the Europa League but he revealed he could have been going into battle alongside him.

The Celtic boss had a sliding doors moment with his Zenit St Petersburg rival eight years and both have bossed several clubs since.

Mancini wanted Rodgers as his righthand man when he was at Manchester City and the timing could not have been better for the Northern Irish boss who’d found himself out in the cold in club management.

It sounds strange given his standing now but back then the 44-year-old was looking for scraps when the then Etihad manager invited him to pop over to Italy for a bowl of pasta.

Rodgers had bombed at Reading and was searching for a route back when Mancini identified him as a potential right-hand man given the work he’d witnessed alongside manager Jose Mourinho at Chelsea.

Swansea swooped to make him manager but the Celtic gaffer admitted he came close to taking the Italian’s job. Rodgers said: “Roberto’s a good man. I was out of work at the time and between jobs. I was thinking if I was going to get a manager’s job or not. “I didn’t have anything lined up towards the end of the season. I got a call out of the blue from Manchester City. They were looking to get someone in to coach for the following season because they were trying to develop this style of football. “I was invited up to one of the games to meet the staff and get an idea of what the Manchester City project was at that time. “They were great. They flew me out to meet Roberto in Milan at the end of the season and I spent a bit of time with him there. It was a chat in a hotel and it was nice.

“We talked through a few possibilities. It was in that period I got the chance to go to Swansea so it didn’t materialise.

“But I got to know him and I played against him plenty of times of course when I was at Swansea and Liverpool. I enjoyed his company.

“I was asked to speak to Man City because of my coaching at Chelsea. I’d worked with big players and communicated with big players.

“If I couldn’t get a manager’s job that was the next best place to go especially as the City project was very exciting.

“Then the chance came to be a No.1 at Swansea and David Platt joined Mancini at City.

“From a human side he was a nice guy. Kolo Toure could obviously tell you a lot more about his work at Man City. I knew him from meeting him and playing against his sides.”

The pair could have teamed up but instead became rivals as Rodgers took charge of the Swans and then Liverpool while Mancini was in control at City. Since then the Italian took time out after getting the chop at the Etihad before spells at Galatasaray and Inter Milan – where he dumped Celts out of the Europa League in the last 32 in 2015 – before heading to Russia.

Rodgers took a different path as he recovered from his Anfield departure by making history with the Hoops.

The Celtic boss added: “It’s a job. Nowadays your life span at clubs is very short. If you’re relatively young you enjoy your life and you enjoy your work, it’s going to take you around.

“It may well take you around the world. At some point my time will finish here at Celtic and I will have to work somewhere else.

“It’s about where you can work and what is the best club for you. He left Manchester City and took a break. He was at Galatasaray. If you have that love and passion for football it’s going to take him to various clubs.”

Rodgers is looking forward to locking horns with his former friendly rival but he’s also relishing a return to Russia.

He suffered a painful exit from the Europa League at the last-32 stage at the hands of Zenit back in 2013. His Reds went down 2-0 in St Petersburg but crashed out on the away goals rule