BRENDAN Rodgers insisted last night that Celtic can progress to the last 16 of the Champions League despite drawing Barcelona, Manchester City and Borussia Monchengladbach in the group stages – if they can win their home games.
Rodgers targeted a place in the knockout rounds of Europe’s premier club competition on Tuesday night in the immediate aftermath of a 5-4 aggregate victory over Hapoel Be’er Sheva in the play-off.
The Irishman was undeterred when the Scottish champions were placed in Group C alongside formidable Spanish, English and German rivals in Monaco on Thursday evening.
However, the former Liverpool manager believes that beating their opponents at Celtic Park will be vital to their hopes of going through for only the fourth time.
“We have to do our best,” he said. “I don’t think it’s right to go into it and just be the also-ran and just accept that the three others teams, in many ways, are way ahead of us in terms of talent, financial clout, everything.
“We’ve got a group of players that are performing in the team in how we want to work. We’ve got to see these challenges as challenges we can really go and embrace.
"The objective would be to do that (qualify for the last 16). Everyone knows it’s going to be extremely tough, but we have to take in that challenge.
“I think the home games are crucial. My experience in the competitions in Europe is that the home games are vital for you. If you can pick up your points at home and try and nick something away, which is of course extremely tough, you have a chance.
“We’ve got to use the crowd. The amazing support we get at home which will lift the players for sure and make it a real intimidating place for the opponent. So if we can get points from home we will see what we can get away.
“Notoriously, Celtic over many years have found it difficult away from home, so that tells you we need to be better in our home games.”
Meanwhile, Rodgers has welcomed confirmation from Peter Lawwell, the Celtic chief executive, that all the money the Parkhead club bank from their involvement in the group stages, and they will make between £25 and £30 million, will go towards new players.
“We’re going into a different competition now so it’s important the club continually moves forward,” he said. “It’s important that we invest that wisely.
“There’s a number of areas and ideas that we’ve looked at. I want a creative player, but there’s still a little bit of time to do something. There’s lots of keen interest for really good players to want to come here. So we’ll see what we can get."
Asked if qualifying for the Champions League group stages made Celtic more attractive to signing targets, Rodgers said: “It’s certainly does. If you’re in this competition then players get excited by that. They want to play in the big games. It’ll be an attraction for sure.”
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