CATCH THEM IF YOU CAN, BHOYS

Rodgers urges his men to put the shackles on City’s world-class acts

FIVE years ago, a Brendan Rodgers meeting with Pep Guardiola was stymied by an Icelandic ash cloud. For their delayed handshake to be a pleasant experience, Celtic’s manager needs Parkhead to rumble with volcanic intent tonight.

The Scottish champions were shaken by a 7-0 defeat on the opening night in Barcelona. A savage expose of the chasm between Europe’s haves and have-nots, the worry is that lightning strikes twice.

At home, Celtic are a different proposition, losing just three times in 24 group games. AC Milan, Barcelona, Juventus, Manchester United and Porto all know how it feels to leave Glasgow’s east end with a bloody nose.

But when the best Scotland has to offer meets England’s monied elite these days, no one speaks of a ‘Battle’ of Britain any more. Rather, the expectation is of a swift, bloodless knock-out.

The statistics after Barcelona were sobering. The scoreline was bad enough, but Celtic’s concession of just three free-kicks over 90 minutes was most damning of all.

Manchester City pose many of the same problems. To land a punch on players like Lionel Messi and his countryman Sergio Aguero, you have to catch them first.

‘Sometimes, with the top players, you simply cannot get close enough to them,’ admitted Rodgers. ‘That’s why they’re world class.

‘The reality is that you have to fight. The top ones move the ball so fast but you have to make fouls. You have to disrupt the rhythm or else it just becomes too easy.’

Assembled by Arab sheikhs to the tune of £419million, Manchester City have the capacity to humiliate Europe’s old elite. If this is a Battle of Britain, Celtic enter the fray armed with a set of kitchen knives.

‘You have Aguero, who is a worldclass striker,’ said Rodgers (right). ‘He showed that at Atletico Madrid and since he’s come into the Premier League. When he’s fit, he’s world class.

‘David Silva is world class, too. I always say that when you have a world-class player, they are hard to tie down because they will always find space.

‘My experience of managing against Manchester City shows that when you face these guys, the world-class players always find the space.

‘What you have to try to do is negate their influence. Raheem (Sterling) is back on track to be one of the world’s top players. It’s a huge task for us but Kevin De Bruyne being out helps.

‘We’ll see what happens. We saw some interesting aspects in the game against Swansea at the weekend, so hopefully we can maximise that.’

Any weaknesses City displayed in Swansea were combed over by a 3-1 win. Beat Celtic tonight and they will make it 11 straight wins — matching the best-ever start to a season since Spurs in their doublewinning campaign of 1960-61.

In contrast with the Nou Camp, Rodgers will instruct his team to be aggressive. To unsettle City’s wizardry and break up their flow.

Yet the Celtic boss knows City are unlikely to be brushed aside. Guardiola’s teams are founded on fitness, strength and pace.

Sterling strikes no one as a physical footballer, yet Rodgers holds up his former Liverpool charge as a shining example of what Celtic can expect.

‘When we first brought him into our training, all the centre halves — (Martin) Skrtel or (Daniel) Agger — tried to kick the life out of him,’ said the former Anfield boss. ‘But very quickly they realised you can’t. He’s actually stronger than them.

‘He has this unique power and strength. His physicality is immense for such a slight boy.

‘Raheem would arm them off, boom, with incredible strength. If you ask Kolo Toure, he’ll tell you the same thing. He was so wispy but his strength is tremendous.’

However they do it, Celtic must find a way to compete.

‘To be here and to put up a fight, to get a result, that’s what it’s about,’ said Rodgers.

‘For us, it’s the passion of the crowd, of the team and our players. That will help us. I think for people who maybe haven’t been here, it’s a different roar. It’s a different noise that comes out of here.’

In the days of Martin O’Neill, Gordon Strachan and Neil Lennon, most of the giants were humbled. The home reputation was well earned.

‘There is some relevance to it,’ said Rodgers. ‘There have been 24 games here at that level, of which Celtic have won 16 and only lost three. ‘It’s an incredible record which shows you the power of the stadium and what it gives to the team. ‘AC Milan came here all-conquering and set up that it was going to be easy and it was 2-1 (to Celtic). ‘City are on a great run and it will end at some point, and why not us being the ones to end it? That has to be the attitude.’