A DELIGHTED and relieved Brendan Rodgers admitted his side's battle with Hapoel Be'er Sheva was the longest night of his life as he celebrated the joy of taking Celtic into the Champions League.
The stresses of this 2-0 defeat, Celtic won 5-2 on aggregate which gets them into Friday's Champions League draw, will be forgotten once the team is pulled out the hat alongside one of the biggest names in European football.
But this was a tough watch for Rodgers and the supporters who unlike the new manager have endured plenty of nights like this before.
Read more: Brendan Rodgers's Celtic reach the Champions League on a nervous night in Israel
However, it did end well and Celtic are where they want to be, which made the Northern Irishman a very happy man.
"How do I feel? Brilliant," admitted Rodgers. "It was probably the longest 90 minutes I’ve faced as a coach. With the past experience the players have had, you sometimes never know how it can map out in the game.
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“I thought Beer-Sheva were outstanding. They had to force the game, of course, they had nothing to lose. They played really well.
“I have to congratulate my players because all the work we have done in pre season has been based around that mentality and the quality of our game.
"We know we can’t always play well. A lot of the games, we have played well. But tonight was always going to be about resilience and persistence.
"It was an amazing effort from the players on the back of everything they have been through before. So huge applause to them and I’m delighted they got their reward."
This win will make Celtic millions in the space of a few months and while on the evidence of this game the likes of Real Madrid won't fear facing them, it is huge that the club is back in the big time after an absence which did hurt.
"I’m immensely proud," said Rodgers who couldn't take the smile from his face. "I'm so proud for the football club, initially for Dermot (Desmond), Peter (Lawwell) and the board. They stuck their neck out in the summer and the club has a really positive feel to it.
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“This is a huge step forward for us. I’m absolutely delighted for the players, the mentality and honesty they showed got its rewards
“It’s an incredible moment for supporters, being back among Europe’s elite where this club belongs."
Celtic struggled against Hapeol who missed a penalty before scoring twice in a game they dominated.
Rodgers admitted: "Tonight the players just added an extra per cent to the mentality. Maybe it was something they didn’t feel they could achieve, because of the short period of time they have been working with me. We have built into them a belief that if you work hard with intensity, you give yourselves a better chance of winning.
“When you are stuck, you can dig it out. The criticism of Celtic when I came in was that they couldn’t tough it out but we showed over two games and under huge pressure that this team could tough it out."
Rodgers seemed to kick every ball on the touchline. He knows what the Champions League means to his club and what it would have meant had it gone horrible wrong in the Turner Stadium.
"You can never say you are calm," he said. "We were working tirelessly on the bench to try to plug gaps. The players were on auto-pilot towards the end. Beer-Sheva had just about run out of ideas at the end. I thought they coped really well but you can never switch off until the final whistle goes.
"Tonight wasn’t going to be about the performance. We could have kept the ball night and then if we’d lost it wouldn’t have mattered.
"The performance is very important but you have to take into consideration the mentality of the players over the last couple of seasons. It has been so tough on them mentally to go out of the competition at this stage. So there were probably a lot of nerves and tension there for them.
"We have only been together a short space of time and we have made great strides as team and a club. We need a lot more work on the training field and improvement will come. But tonight was about getting through."
Rodgers will have to get used to such tension in his new job. He said: "They certainly won't be as bad as that, I'm sure. I think that you'll probably ask me in a few games and it will be worse! But this is different, there is so much riding on this qualification. So much has been spoken about.
"And probably the typical Celtic. But it has really happened and we've qualified. It's great for everyone, it's great for the nation as well. I think for Scotland it's huge as well."
There seemed to be no issues with the small band of Celtic supporters, no Palestine flags were in view, and Rodgers ended his press conference by saying; "We have been very well treated by the people of Israel." This earned a round of applause from the room.
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