Soccer

Celtic in a better place since Lincoln Imps shock insists Bhoys boss Brendan Rodgers

The Celtic players trudge off the field last year after their shock defeat to Gibralter part-timers Lincoln Imps
The Celtic players trudge off the field last year after their shock defeat to Gibralter part-timers Lincoln Imps The Celtic players trudge off the field last year after their shock defeat to Gibralter part-timers Lincoln Imps

Uefa Champions League second qualifying round, first leg: Celtic v Linfield (today, 5pm, live on Premier Sports)

IT was a year on Wednesday past since Brendan Rodgers’s career as Celtic manager got off to the worst possible start.

Travelling to Gibraltar for a Champions League qualifier on July 12, the Bhoys suffered an embarrassing 1-0 defeat to Lincoln Imps – a team of part-timers from a club established just 11 years after the Lisbon Lions conquered Europe in 1967.

The Imps’ winning goal was plundered by Ministry of Defence police officer Lee Casciaro, subjecting Celtic to what must be the most humiliating defeat in the Glasgow giants’ storied history.

The outside chance of a repeat result is something Linfield fans must have spent the past month dreaming of since a potential Champions League showdown was first pulled from the hat.

For Rodgers, though, that was then, this is now.

He hadn’t even been in the Parkhead hotseat for two months at that stage and, once he finally put his own stamp on the team, Celtic went on to enjoy a season to savour.

After beating Lincoln Imps 3-0 in the second leg, they qualified for the Champions League group stages. Objective number one achieved.

But it was on the home front where they really caught fire as they went the entire season undefeated, winning the Scottish Premiership by 30 points and completing the treble with League and Scottish Cup successes.

‘The Invincibles’ had arrived, and therefore it is no surprise that Rodgers is at ease with post-match reflections and potential straw-clutching about being rocked in Gibraltar 12 months ago.

“It was interesting because that was the first competitive game I was able to see the team in,” said the Carnlough man at yesterday’s press conference at the Culloden Hotel.

“The conditions were tough, but there was also a vulnerability there. That was never going to be a symbol of our future failure, that game.

“It was an opportunity for me to look at it and go ‘okay, there’s an issue here’ because we haven’t qualified for a few seasons, how can I help the players deal with this pressure and the mental side of the game.

“Twelve months on, it’s a different team with a different mentality in a different cycle of work.”

They negotiated a hostile atmosphere in Israel to see off Hapoel Be’er Sheva and reach the group stages before facing away days at the Nou Camp, the Etihad Stadium and Borussia Monchengladbach’s Borussia Park.

Making the short hop from Glasgow to Belfast to take on Irish League champions should hold little fears for this group of Celtic players, despite the fact there will be none – or very few at least – of their own supporters inside the ground.

And Rodgers is confident his team can draw on that accumulated experience when they step out at Windsor Park this evening.

He said: “What we’ve looked to create over the last season - and we’ve gone to some tough places as a team - is a mentality and a oneness that pulls you together.

“In every game you play, there’s usually a question asked of you. It’s not about the individual, it’s about the mental qualities of the team.

“You go to Ibrox, in front of 50,000 so you have 40,000 opponents against you, you have to be ready. But things can always happen in football that we always have to guard against.

“That’s something the team has built up. You saw in big pressure games throughout last season, in the Champions League we got better, in domestic cup competitions we were able to find answers.

“It’s still very early in the season, we won’t be on the top of our game, we’re only back three odd weeks, but we hope we have enough to get through over the two games.”

Rodgers is good friends with Blues boss David Healy – Northern Ireland’s record goalscorer – and admits he has been impressed with the job the Killyleagh man has done at Windsor.

“I’ve great respect for David and what he’s done in his football career, taking steps into management. He’s done exceptionally since he’s come in, especially last season, and he’ll be looking to get a result of course.

“For me, I only worry about my own team – how we work, how we play. I know where we are to this time last year and it’s a different place.

“But it doesn’t make the game any easier; you have to earn the right to win a game of football. Being Northern Irish, I know what the mentality is like.

“You’ll fight for your life, you give everything, even if it’s against a better opponent, and that’s what I’d always expect.

“Whether that was here with Celtic or Chelsea in the Milk Cup, the Irish boys will always give you a game.”