Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers hailed his players for showing their Champions League mentality in last night’s six-goal thrashing of St Johnstone and feels they are ready to go on the front foot against Borussia Dortmund.
Rodgers saw his men blow away Saints with a brilliant display that brought two goals from Kyogo Furuhashi and efforts from Paulo
Bernardo, Callum McGregor, Daizen Maeda and Adam Idah and kept them top of the Premiership with six wins from six plus six clean sheets.
And although he knows it will be a whole lot tougher at Signal Iduna Park in the Champions League on Tuesday night, Rodgers admits he can’t wait to see his players put their stamp on the occasion, buoyed by such excellent domestic form.
‘We’re in a really good way. I look at the rhythm in the team, I look at the speed in the team, I look at the hunger in the team,’ he said. ‘We’re going to play a top team on their home patch, but I’m really excited to see how we can play against it. They’re a very good side, got really good players. But we can go there and look to impose our style in the game.
‘As long as we try and we press and we attack and we fight, let’s see where it takes us.
Two-goal Kyogo Furuhashi was the pick of a host of polished Celtic performers in Perth
Substitute Adam Idah rounded off the scoring with his customary goal from the bench
Rodgers insists his side will carry great confidence going into Tuesday’s tie in Dortmund
‘We can manage the ball, we can play. We have the attributes in the team which can help us now as we’ve got real speed, we’ve got physicality and we can dig in, which is important.
‘Dortmund are a team on a really, really high level, but I’m really looking forward to seeing how we measure up against that.
‘I think we can create chances and we can score goals. And that’ll be our idea going into the game.
‘It’s going to be a brilliant occasion for us. I can’t wait for it now. Before the (St Johnstone) game, a lot of the noise and focus was on the Champions League game on Tuesday, but I thought we had the chance to show our Champions League mentality.
‘From the first whistle to the very last whistle, the players were absolutely brilliant — defensively strong, counter-pressing, great attitude to win the ball back.
Daizen Maeda scored his fifth goal of the season and was a menace to Saints throughout
‘We were really aggressive in getting the ball back and none more so than at the end with Daizen in the 86th minute, tracking the back to win the ball. That’s the part of the game that really, really pleased me. That gives you the opportunity to be as creative and free-flowing and, obviously, the goals were fantastic goals.
‘Not bad for a team that doesn’t play good football. I think that’s what we were told last year, wasn’t it?’
Celtic also had a Daizen Maeda goal disallowed at 0-0 when a VAR review saw Don Robertson adjudge Auston Trusty to have fouled Graham Carey earlier in the move.
‘It should never have been disallowed,’ said Rodgers. ‘If you watch it back, Auston loses his marker and their player steps into his space and bumps him.’
Skipper Callum McGregor continued his fine scoring form with another goal from distance
Midfielder Bernardo, meanwhile, is also buying into the belief Celtic can do something special against last term’s Champions League runners-up in Germany.
‘I think we were at our best against St Johnstone,’ he said. ‘I think we could have scored more.
‘We have a strong mentality and we have a strong group. We might change some things because of how they play, but yeah, for sure, we will do our best. We know our chances and we will do our best to get out with points. The sky is the limit.’
Rodgers has insisted he does not know if injured defender Cameron Carter-Vickers will travel, with a decision on his fitness likely to be made later today.