STAND UP AND BE COUNTED...
‘I want my players to play without fear. I want us to test the opponent, see how they feel when you are breathing right up against them. If they get out of that press then it’s okay — they’ve earned their £600,000 a week!’
WITHOUT FEAR. The two simple words with which Brendan Rodgers signs off his programme notes before every home fixture and the mantra being chanted by the Celtic manager ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League opener.
The visit of Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday night means Celtic will kick off the competition at the top of the bill. Alas, the television cameras and global media will not primarily be in town to check out the centre-forward play of Leigh Griffiths but to gawp at the guests, a club which has announced its bid for world domination by assembling the most expensive forward line in history.
Rodgers doesn’t want his players to be overawed by the task of stopping Neymar (below), Kylian Mbappe and Edinson Cavani. He wants them to be inspired by it.
‘It will be very difficult to stop them but it’s a great challenge for us,’ says the former Liverpool boss. ‘PSG are a team full of world-class players with great experience. And they’re in the competition looking to win it. That’s why that investment is there and that’s been their path for the last few years.
‘The challenge for us is to try to stop them and get a result, but it should be an amazing night. Whatever the result it will be a great experience for us.’
This is Rodgers’ second crack at the Champions League with Celtic and, although he swept into the Parkhead club on a wave of confidence and optimism, there was an element of the club winging it as they sat down to dine at Europe’s top table.
The gulf between their domestic diet and the richer continental fare was shown when the Scottish champions’ stomachs churned on a frightening opening night at the Nou Camp. Final score: Barcelona 7 Celtic 0.
Rodgers believes his team has grown in stature since that night and, having established a high-tempo style of play, he feels betterequipped to go toe-to-toe with the game’s giants. Celtic can’t match PSG for cash but competitors like Scott Brown, Kieran Tierney and Griffiths have guts. And in Scott Sinclair and either Patrick Roberts or James Forrest, there will be a speedy outlet on the flanks.
The first signs of advancement came on the night Manchester City visited and played out a 3-3 draw under the lights in the east end of Glasgow and that kind of aggressive, high-tempo performance is what Rodgers will look for on Tuesday. ‘That’s the level,’ he agrees. ‘Going into these games brings out a different part of our game. Domestically we dominate, we counter-press, we get the ball and we create lots of chances. At this level we don’t have so many chances. This competition gives us the chance to work on a different side of our game, to counter attack. You won’t always have it your own way. ‘There’s a wee bit of pain in there for supporters and players as you’re so used to dominating. But it’s about understanding that at times have to close off the middle of the pitch and set yourself up to break into spaces. A year on, the players have a greater experience of this and how to play.’ It says everything about the challenge facing Celtic that PSG aren’t even the top seeds in Group B. Rodgers regards both the French side and Bayern Munich as being among the favourites to lift the trophy in Kiev next summer, but that won’t stop him trying to disrupt the natural order of the section.
Celtic Park has developed a reputation as one of the most atmospheric in the continent and has been endorsed by a host of stellar names from Lionel Messi to Gianluigi Buffon. Rodgers would like his team to provide its own assault on the senses.
‘Our identity is important,’ he continues. ‘Of course you have to respect the opponent and the qualities they have, but I’ve always been about playing without fear.
‘I always want us to really test the opponent. See how they feel under pressure when you’re breathing right up against them.
‘If they get out of that press then it’s okay — they’ve earned their £600,000 a week! And they’ll do it a few times. But keep going back.
‘In the Barcelona game out there I felt we were a wee bit intimidated. We offered them too much respect. But now we’ve had a year together and we play without fear wherever we go.’
Rodgers remembers the night when, as a young manager, he abandoned his own motto and was burned.
‘I like to think my teams have always taken initiative — Swansea, even as far back as Watford — and had the feeling that they wouldn’t wait. We want to go after our game and impose our way,’ he adds.
‘I remember the night I didn’t do that. I was with Reading and we were losing away at Loftus Road. We lost 3-1 and it wasn’t a representation of me. It was 4-4-2, stiff and static. And that was my fault. That was an important moment. If you’re going to down as a manager — and you normally do at some point — at least go down with your own vision.’
There will be pragmatism built into Tuesday’s plan, not least because of the presence of the planet’s first £198million footballer.
Neymar and Celtic are hardly strangers. The Brazilian was irrepressible a year ago, claiming a goal and four assists as Barca tore Celtic apart and was just as good in 2013 when he claimed a hat-trick in a 6-1 win for the Catalans. Beyond the tricks, flicks and finishes he retains some notoriety at Parkhead for his role in a red card picked up by Brown. Rodgers can only marvel at the 25-year-old’s talent.
‘Neymar has everything,’ he observes. ‘He’s like a motorbike, so fast and balanced — left foot, right foot. He commits people. The best players go at people, they don’t pass it all the time.
‘I love his hunger. He gets himself into bother at times but he’s a worker — and he had to do it at Barcelona. He’s now come out of the shadows a bit and obviously felt like he wanted to be the main man at PSG. But with PSG, it’s not about just having to stop one player.’
With Neymar’s transfer quickly followed by the loan move for Monaco’s Mbappe (a deal that has an option to buy for £172m), it’s been easy to overlook the quality that already oozed through Unai Emery’s squad.
Cavani has long been one of the game’s most feared frontmen, while behind him Julian Draxler, Dani Alves and Marquinhos offer a mixture of steel, skill and experience.
Yet for all PSG’s stardust and Qatari investment, the club has never lifted Europe’s top prize. That the game’s new pretenders should visit in the year of the 50th anniversary of Celtic’s greatest triumph only adds to the sense of anticipation.
‘Follow the star!’ he laughs. ‘Come to us… you get a star (on the jersey). There you only get 600 grand a week! The Lisbon Lions will always be the greatest team ever associated with Celtic and a great source of inspiration. The realities now are that you never get there as a Scottish team, but that doesn’t stop you aspiring to be the very best you can.
‘The players are top of the bill. It’s a showcase game. We now have a good feeling within our squad that we can go and represent the club and Scottish football in a really positive way.’
Without fear.
Neymar has everything. He’s like a motorbike, so fast and balanced. He gets into bother at times but he’s a worker