Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers hails side after completing Champions League comeback to see off RB Leipzig in style
Brendan Rodgers last night hailed the maturity of his Celtic players after they fought back to beat RB Leipzig and claim a stunning Champions League victory.
A statement win against a Leipzig side who sit second in the Bundesliga, Rodgers admitted it was his greatest European night across his two spells as Celtic manager.
Celtic had trailed 1-0 after a Christophe Baumgartner goal from a set-piece gave the visitors the lead midway through the first half.
But two goals from the outstanding Nicolas Kuhn had Rodgers’ side 2-1 up by half-time, before Reo Hatate sealed the three points midway through the second half.
The victory now gives Celtic a terrific opportunity to go on and secure at least a play-off place in their bid to reach the knockout stages.
Asked if this represented his greatest European night as manager, Rodgers said: ‘Yeah, I think so, in terms of level of opponent.
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers celebrates with Reo Hatate at the full-time whistle
Nicolas Kuhn scored two goals in quick succession to put his side ahead at the interval
‘It wasn’t just the result, it was the performance. We played the game with great charisma and confidence and showed the courage in our pressing.
‘To play to that level, that would definitely be the best one. Leipzig have only conceded five goals all season.
‘So to play to that level, most definitely. We’ve had some really good results, but that definitely would be the best one.
‘I think we started the game with a real good confidence. We then conceded the goal, so we got rocked for a little bit and were a bit loose in our passing.
‘But I think the maturity in the team to then recover that, to go and get the first goal, to continue to play. We recovered and, in terms of our pressing and aggression, we were outstanding.
‘Some of our football in the second half was outstanding, controlling the game, managing the game really well and, yeah, it was really deserved. Tip of the hat to the players.
‘I think if you asked RB Leipzig, they would tell you that it was a really difficult game for them tonight. It was an outstanding team performance from us.’
Celtic have now taken seven points from a possible 12 this season in the Champions League
After being hammered 7-1 away at Borussia Dortmund a month ago, Rodgers’ side have rallied to claim four points from their last two games against Atalanta and Leipzig.
While insisting there is still much work to do if Celtic are to qualify for the knockout stages, Rodgers insisted that the response his team have shown since Dortmund demonstrates their ability to be competitive at the top level.
‘If you told us after the Dortmund game we’d have four points from the next two games, I don’t think too many people would have said we would have done that,’ he said.
‘It’s a great next step and gives us great encouragement to go and make the play-off stage, but there is still so much to do.
‘I think it gives a real nice confidence for the team, I think we’ve discovered in the last two games that we can be really competitive.
‘We just want to be a competitive team at this level. There’s been obviously a lot of criticism around the club at this level.
Kuhn leads the celebrations after picking up the man-of-the-match award
‘But we want to be really competitive and make it really difficult for teams, both home and away, and take it just step by step.
‘We can’t look any further than that it’s a great performance, it was a great night for the football club and we’ll take that energy into our next games.’
‘We have to stay humble in our work, we can’t get too far ahead of ourselves,” Rodgers said.
‘We played so well. We’re in a really good place and we now just focus on our next game against Kilmarnock.
“Obviously, when Club Brugge comes, we’ll look to keep adding to our points and see where it takes us at the end of January.”
Kuhn looked unplayable at times and scored a wonderful equaliser as he curled in off the post from 20 yards, but Rodgers was keen to stress the German winger can still improve.
“He’s still young so he still has more to go,” Rodgers said. “I thought his pressing could have been better. That was the thing I said to him.
“He’s obviously got goal contribution efficiency but he’s just learning and developing all the time.
“We’ve seen his talent. Bringing him to here was about making more goal contributions, being more robust and sustaining playing.
