IF Brendan Rodgers didn't feel the hand of history on his shoulder before now, he certainly does after Thursday night. A week of tributes on the 50th anniversary of the Lisbon Lions' historic European Cup win culminated in a spectacular show at the SSE Hydro, where he had the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson and famous former holders of his office like Martin O'Neill, Kenny Dalglish, Gordon Strachan and Neil Lennon all queuing up to shower him and his team with compliments. Even Rodgers seemed to baulk a little yesterday when asked to answer chief executive Peter Lawwell's assertion that he saw a little bit of Jock Stein in the way this canny Northern Irishman has inherited a group of players and transformed them into history makers.

“It is hard to say that," said Rodgers, who does enjoy learning more about the methods of Stein in chats with the likes of John Clark and Danny McGrain. "It is different times, different eras. I have only been here a season. I would hope my ways of working [are similar], in terms of how the team plays and the identity and the style, the demands which are put on players and what they do for the club. But every manager is different. I didn’t know Jock so I couldn't really comment. But if anyone thinks that it is always an honour.”

You might think the pressure on the manager and this group of players would have eased somewhat after completing the first invincible domestic campaign since 1899 against Hearts last Sunday, but in fact it has perhaps just ratcheted up a notch. Stein is one of just two managers in the club's history to record a treble and there is quite simply no precedent at all out there for a Scottish team recording an unbeaten treble but Celtic are 90 minutes - perhaps plus penalties, perhaps plus extra time - away from that feat today. It is a good thing that this manager makes such a big play of working out coping mechanisms which allow his players to take this strain, rather than feel suffocated by it.

The Northern Irishman simply called upon his players to embrace this as the "once in a lifetime opportunity" which it is. Though given Celtic's current dominance, you would have to be a fool to suggest that could be equally possible in 12 months' time.

"I just got great pride sitting there, a real sense of family," said Rodgers, of the Hydro event. "I looked at all the other players who were there, Murdo MacLeod, Roy Aitken, Packie [Bonner], Tosh McKinlay, all these great players from the past and the Lions themselves. And all the supporters themselves bring a real vibrancy to everywhere we go.

"I know where I am at," he added. "I knew what I was coming in to, I knew the expectancy here. I know the demands that are on you here and I enjoy that. I’ve loved the feeling this season of pressure to deliver for them. For us, there is one more step to go to cap what could be a once in a lifetime achievement. You only have to see how long it has taken for a team to go through 38 games unbeaten and you see how few times it has been done, a team winning three trophies in the same season. To actually have the two together is like a dream right there."

Leigh Griffiths scored one and had a hand in the other two the last time Celtic met Aberdeen. While it would be a huge surprise if he didn't start up front, Rodgers confirmed last night that Moussa Dembele would be fit enough after a hamstring problem to take his place in the squad. "Moussa is fine," said Rodgers. "He will be in the squad. He has trained all week. He could have trained towards the end of last week but we he has been doing a lot of the individual work with the guys. So he has been out on the pitch for a few weeks but this was his first week back in. Obviously he is not match or game fit having been out for a little period of time but he is certainly going to be able to be in the squad."