Brendan Rodgers was full of praise for his Celtic players after they made an impressive start to their Champions League campaign by defeating Slovan Bratislava 5-1.
A Liam Scales header had the hosts a goal ahead by half-time but after the break Celtic turned on the style and goals from Kyogo Furuhashi, Arne Engels, Daizen Maeda and Adam Idah thrilled the Parkhead crowd and secured a thumping opening day win.
Rodgers had identified European performances as an area where he wants to see progress this season and he was delighted to see them make an early statement in the elite competition.
“It was a great night for everyone,” the Celtic boss said. “I’m so, so proud of the team.
“The intensity which we played at, with and without, the ball was so good.”
Despite being a goal to the good at the break, the manager said he felt his side could move up another level and increase the snappiness of their passing and he was pleased with how they instantly responded and got the rewards.
“You could see in the second half right from the off, the players were absolutely sensational in the game,” Rodgers said.
“It was just everything: mentality, hunger, greedy for more goals, greedy for the ball, everyone working right to the very end.
“We could have had more than five. So it was a real, really good performance.
“There was a big expectation going into the game but it was important not to complicate things, just play our football and see if we could put them under stress and see if they could live with it.
“The intensity right from the off was superb and in the second half we turned the screw. We had other chances and that’s what we want, we want to be really, really difficult to play against with and without the ball.”
The Northern Irishman sought to shift the mentality of his side after seeing them struggle to make their mark on the competition in recent years. He said that although there was an atmosphere around the top-level competition, he had reminded the players that a lot of what they faced would be familiar, even if it was of a high standard.
“We want to change that mood and feeling and we have worked hard from the start of pre-season to get to this point where we can have that belief,” he said.
“I said ‘don’t overthink it’, that’s the key”, he explained. “The razzmatazz around the Champions League is amazing but we are playing against a team who defend 4-4-2, which we play against in the league.
“There are different tiers but it’s still the same idea.
“You can see the confidence we have from pre-season. That’s the level and we want to keep showing that.
“It’s giving he players the belief to play our game because those goals, you will have seen them a number of times.
“Sometimes when you are paying in the Champions League, people think you have to do something different. You don’t, just get the intensity in the game, make it really difficult to play against with our pressure and fight for the ball and that will activate you with the ball.
“We know where we want to get to as a club and that was a nice step.”
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