Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Rodgers: Clean sheet is crucial
BOSS Brendan Rodgers believes the clean sheet Celtic take into their Champions League qualifier against Rosenborg tonight could be crucial.
The Eliteserien leaders, who are 17 games into their domestic season, were more than wor th the goalless draw in the first leg of their third qualifier at Parkhead last week.
While the Norwegian club look to be in the driving seat ahead of the return game, the Northern Irishman disagrees.
“We kept a clean sheet and, home or away in the second leg, that is important,” said Rodgers, who confirmed striker Leigh Griffiths and defender Erik Sviatchenko are back i n contention after recovering from injuries.
“I said before the game last week that it wouldn’t be won in that game.
“There i s still another game to play, in Rosenborg.
“We expect another tough game tonight.
“We know we can score the goals that we need to qualify but we respect Rosenborg as a team halfway through their season, they have good quality and they will be a really tough opponent.”
The manager remains perplexed that the champions of Scotland have to go through two qualifiers and a play-off to make the group stages.
He said: “I don’t believe the t eam t hat wins t he league should be i n the qualification phase, it never used to be the case.
“But of course finance and money changes the game and that means countries and clubs like ourselves, one of the biggest, iconic clubs in the world, are having to go through six games in order to qualify.
“But it is what we have to do.”