HAVING parted company with Liverpool less than two seasons after almost leading the Anfield club to their first English title in 24 years, Brendan Rodgers appreciates just how quickly fortunes can fluctuate in football.

So the Celtic manager is, with daunting games against Barcelona, Manchester City and Borussia Monchengladbach in the Champions League group stages looming, determined that his team savour getting there.

The difficulties the Scottish champions will face taking on their Group C rivals are for another day. For the time being, he wants them simply to revel in their fine success.

“You either walk on water or you’re the devil in this game,” said Rodgers yesterday as he looked back on the Parkhead club’s qualifying campaign and gave his opinion on the draw. “I never get too carried away or too disappointed.

“But we achieved what we wanted to achieve. Qualification was extremely tough. After the intensity of the games and the level of healthy pressure that was on us, we can really enjoy it now.

“It’s something we will reflect on over the course of the international break. I think it’s very important that the players can celebrate a milestone.

“If you’re always running the race, you never get the feeling of going over the finish line. It can be tough. The players have created something here in the last five or six weeks that is clearly a milestone.

“But they will celebrate that at the right time. After the game with Aberdeen we can sit back and reflect that we have achieved something important. Then we can re-focus on the next phase of our season.”

Guiding Celtic out of a section that comprises Barcelona, Manchester City, two of the favourites to win the Champions League, and Monchengladbach and into the knockout rounds for only the fourth time in their history will be a huge achievement. Finishing third and securing a place in the last 32 of the Europa League will be far from a disgrace.

Whatever happens, though, Rodgers is convinced that Celtic and Scotland will benefit from being involved in six games against such a high standard of opposition. The likes of James Forrest, Leigh Griffiths, Callum McGregor and Kieran Tierney especially.

“If you’re a young player then you will see facets of the game that maybe you wouldn’t see domestically playing in these games,” he said. “They will see the composure of the players, the technique of the players and tactically how they can participate in the game. If they want to be a top player then that’s important.

“I was talking to Danny McGrain about it the other day. One of his first big learning experiences was when he played against a German team. The first game was away from home and the winger made a movement that he had never seen before and he got away from him.

“So that made him think as a footballer. When he came back and thought about how he could deal with it, it made him a better player. So when you play against different styles, different cultures, different types of players, they will present to you different problems that you’ve got to find a solution to. Whether you come off second best or not, you will always learn from it. That makes you better and that’s what it’s about.”

Celtic will have to halt a player that Rodgers knows all about when they take on Barcelona in their opening Group C game away from home on Tuesday, September 13 – the former Liverpool striker Luis Suarez – if they are to get a result. Yet, the prospect of his team coming up against the Uruguayan and the Catalan giants in the Nou Camp is one which excites him.

“The reality is we probably won’t win it, (the Champions League)” he said. “So you want to ensure that the club, the players, the supporters, get the best experiences. For me, those experiences are against the top clubs. I know Celtic have played Barcelona umpteen times in the last 12 or 13 years, but it is still a great experience and one we will look forward to. It’s the elite cup competition in the world and Celtic are in it. We are only too happy to get these experiences.

“Luis a top player and a great man. I also know how super-competitive he is. He will want to be working well and scoring goals. Listen, everybody recognises they’re the leading club over the last number of years. It is an extremely tough challenge for us. But it is experiences like that that we want.”

The encounters with City, opponents Celtic have never faced before in a competitive fixture, will be more of a novelty for the Glasgow club. But with new manager Pep Guardiola having spent nearly £150 million strengthening a squad which was already laden with talent in the summer it certainly won’t be any easier.

“It’s a tough game,” he said. “You see the investment in Manchester City and you have to be realistic. Their investment in terms of what they are building makes them one of the superpowers of world football now.

“That’s the challenge for us; to try and find answers to all the undoubted problems they will give us and then make sure that we can give the opponent problems as well. I am looking forward to that."

Rodgers predicted that Monchengladbach, who secured qualification to the group stages for the second consecutive season with a record 9-2 aggregate victory over Young Boys of Bern in midweek, would be difficult to overcome too.

“They’re a team that has been progressing very well in the last few seasons,” he said. “They’re very fast, they work hard and they have a number of good young players in there.

“Out of the pot that they were in, they were probably the top team. Not so many people have known that. They are definitely a force in German football and I’m sure they will show that over the course of the games.”