Uefa Champions League second qualifying round, first leg: Celtic v Linfield (today, 5pm, live on Premier Sports)
CARNLOUGH may be less than an hour up the Antrim coast from Windsor Park, but the village’s most famous son will feel a long way from home at 5pm this evening.
It’s 29 years since Brendan Rodgers was last inside a very different Windsor Park. Then, the 15-year-old Rodgers was racked with nerves as his schoolboy Northern Ireland side prepared to face the mighty Brazil.
“I was very nervous,” he recalled.
“My dad loved Brazil, that was his country, so to be able to get the shirt and give it to him, that was amazing,”
Now, as he gets ready to lead his Celtic side into their much-anticipated showdown with Irish League champions Linfield, the 44-year-old Rodgers exudes nothing but cool, calm confidence.
For a game where one side are 25/1 underdogs, this evening’s game – originally slated to take place on July 11/12 before being moved - has commanded more coverage and column inches than some cup finals.
Yet ever since the draw was made, even before David Healy’s Blues had even accounted for La Fiorita from San Marino, Rodgers has delivered a masterclass in diplomacy.
The former Liverpool boss is not given to incendiary comments, and wasn’t about to start lobbing any on the eve of today’s game after the Bhoys boss rolled into the Culloden Hotel shortly before 5pm yesterday.
However, there was no escaping the elephant in the room.
The Glasgow giants opted to turn down their ticket allocation for the Belfast leg of their Uefa Champions League qualifying clash, fearful of possible clashes between rival supporters.
The remaining tickets went on general sale last week, and Linfield chairman Roy McGivern admitted earlier this week that he still expects some Celtic supporters to attempt to gain entry.
But Rodgers insists he doesn’t have any concerns about the possible presence of Celtic fans inside Windsor Park this evening.
“No, because they’ll behave themselves,” he said.
“It’s not a concern. But of course, we’d all want it to be not having to have thought about it in that way.
“We can host games over here and we should be able to have a safe environment for people to come and support their team.
“But I’m sure everything will be fine. The game will go off fine and then we can go back to Glasgow next week and it’ll be a great spectacle at Parkhead with 60-odd thousand there and a good game for everyone.”
Yet the Bhoys boss did admit he was “saddened” that the Celtic support would not be there in full voice to add to the occasion.
“Yeah, I’m disappointed obviously for the supporters from Northern Ireland that travel over religiously every week, home and away, travel all over the world watching, and then the one that’s on their doorstep they can’t make it,” said Rodgers.
“I’m also disappointed for us as a nation. This is a different Northern Ireland. I know it’s around the marching season and all that sort of stuff, but this is a new Northern Ireland and should’ve been a place where the Celtic supporters could come in, and it be a passionate game because that’s what you want.
“Football’s about two sets of supporters, so I’m saddened for Belfast, for Northern Ireland, for us that our supporters can’t be there, and obviously that extends to family, friends and whoever else.
“It’s a game that they should’ve been able to cope with and it would’ve made it an even better spectacle.”
