Manager: Players showed how much they wanted to win Euro tie

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Celtic F.C.

·13 December 2023

Manager: Players showed how much they wanted to win Euro tie

Brendan Rodgers knows that every game that Celtic play has meaning, for the players and supporters, regardless of what might be the outcome of any given result.

The fact that Celtic’s UEFA Champions League tie against Feyenoord had no bearing on the final group standings did not mean that the focus or determination of the squad to try and deliver a positive result was diluted.

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And so it proved on Wednesday night as the Hoops signed off their European campaign with a 2-1 victory with a performance that showed plenty of quality and character throughout the 90+ minutes.

Speaking after the victory at Celtic Park, Brendan Rodgers said: “I’m clearly very happy with the win for the players, who put so much into the game, and obviously for the supporters.

'It’s been a long time since there’s been a home win in the Champions League, but we said before the game, there are no gifts for a Celtic player.'

“Every game means something and you could see that with the players – how much they put into the game – and some of the football in the first half was very good, and we created some opportunities.

“In the second half we had to dig in a little bit but we kept fighting to the end and we got the winner, so I’m so happy for everyone.

“We said that this is obviously the last game of our competition this season but this is about a process, and every game counts for us in that process, so the players were very motivated, very committed and we played some really good stuff and showed courage in our defending. So we showed a great mentality.”

Stephen Welsh was one of two changes to the starting XI, replacing Nat Phillips in the heart of the Celtic defence.

It was the 23-year-old’s first outing since August, and he performed well alongside Liam Scales, with the Irishman producing a Man of the Match performance.

“They were playing against good players, against a team that has scored a lot of goals,” said the Celtic manager.

“Gimenez is a very talented player and he’s scored a lot of goals in Holland this season, but Stephen having not played for a while and Scalesy outstanding, so both of them were very good.

'What we’ve shown at home is that we could very easily have been on nine points from our home games, so over the course of the competition we’ve shown potential but the team needs support, it need to be stronger at this level.'

“You need to add quality and if we’re going to progress, which I want us to do, then hopefully we can do that over the coming windows.

“But we’ve certainly shown potential in what we can do in lots of moments in games, so if we can add to the group, then I’m confident we can then make these next steps and come out of the group.”