Rodgers asks his players to make history

BRENDAN RODGERS will ask Celtic to defy the resources gap by securing the point against Salzburg which would send Bundesliga giants RB Leipzig crashing out of the Europa League tonight. Avoiding defeat will see the Parkhead club eliminate a team from the big-five leagues for the first time in 15 group campaigns in the Champions and Europa Leagues. ‘It has never been done because it’s so difficult,’ said Rodgers. ‘You look at the power of Leipzig and look at Salzburg with the power of the Red Bull organisation. ‘We’ve put ourselves in a good position. It is in our hands and we want to grab that.’ Insisting there is no prospect of trying to play for a point, the Celtic boss has just one fit striker in Odsonne Edouard but added: ‘We know it’s a tough test. You go out to win and see how the game evolves and take it from there. People say play for a draw, that’s unworkable. We go to win and see where we go from there. ‘We play a game to not concede a goal, be aggressive and this is a similar idea. There comes a point in a game, with five or ten minutes to go, and it’s slightly different. ‘It should be an incredible atmosphere. The Salzburg guys, some of them won’t have experienced it before and it’s a great energy for our team.’ Meanwhile, Celtic yesterday confirmed they will take up their allocation for the Old Firm derby at Ibrox on December 29. Parkhead chief executive Peter Lawwell had suggested they wouldn’t take the tickets at the club’s AGM. However, he has not followed through on that threat.