BRENDAN Rodgers last night warned his Celtic players they will have to produce the best performance of their lives in order to overcome Barcelona in the Champions League at Parkhead tonight.
However, the Irishman firmly believes his charges can write their names in the Glasgow club’s history books by recording another famous victory over the Catalan giants in front of a sell-out crowd.
The Scottish champions’ hopes of defeating the tournament favourites in their penultimate Group C match this evening have been written off by many.
Read more: Scott Brown: Patience and bravery key against Barcelona
Celtic slumped to an embarrassing 7-0 defeat – their worst loss in Europe – in their opening game in the Nou Camp back in September and their opponents are set to be boosted by the return of both Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez.
However, Rodgers, whose team has drawn 3-3 with Manchester City at home and 1-1 with Borussia Moenchengladbach away since that heavy reverse, is confident his side can win if they perform to the best of their abilities.
He has told his players they will be remembered forever if they can emulate the 2-1 triumph that Neil Lennon’s side recorded in the same competition back in 2012.
Read more: Scott Brown: Patience and bravery key against Barcelona
“In order to get a result against a team at this level you need to bring your A game, play the match of your life and hope that you get that bit of luck,” said Rodgers. “It’s certainly one where they need to be at the top of their game.
"We’ve heard since I came here about the game with Neil’s team when they had a brilliant result here. That’s a game that probably will go down in history.
"The Man City is another that will go down as an incredible game. But, of course, the Barcelona game was a huge moment for the team. So, in order to get that victory of course it’s going to take an extra special performance.
“But you know that. And you know you need to be at the top of your game with as many of your players at that level as possible.”
Asked about the famous Celtic victory over Barcelona which a late Tony Watt goal secured four years ago, Rodgers said: “It was a big performance from the players that played that night. Neil deserved that.
“But my message is to go and create new memories going forward. We can’t live in the past. That’s here as motivation and inspiration, but we have to create our own memories.
Read more: Scott Brown: Patience and bravery key against Barcelona
“And I think the current squad, in my time here, have shown that. Can they bring that now into this game here to a level that can get them a good result?”
Rodgers, though, suggested it would be even more difficult for his Celtic team to overcome Barcelona than it was back in 2012 due to his opposite number Luis Enrique being able to field the Messi, Neymar and Suarez forward line.
“I’m not sure we would have seen this Barcelona strike force back then,” he said. “Who did they have? Alexis Sanchez? Messi got them a goal to get back in it.
“At that moment in time they were the best. But this group here, with that front three, are the best. But whatever era you are in these are tough games and you have to try to get a result.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel