Brendan Rodgers Refuses to Buy Arrogant Narrative Heading into Champions League Opener

Brendan Rodgers is setting aside the external expectations as Celtic prepare for their Champions League opener against Slovan Bratislava.

Despite the arrogant narrative building that Celtic should ease to a win in the tie, Rodgers has stressed the quality and effort Bratislava has shown to reach this stage, cautioning against underestimating them.

As Celtic faces Slovan Bratislava, who are perceived as the underdogs in their Champions League group, Rodgers reinforces the notion that every match in Europe’s premier club comPetition poses significant challenges, regardless of the opposition’s ranking.

Rodgers expressed his thoughts clearly, as quoted by Record Sport: “Not really. I think it’s normal. We come into every Game and respect the opponent. Obviously, there will be a narrative around this Game, which I totally get, but I look at Bratislava, and they have had four ties and eight Games to get to this stage. So they have put in a massive amount of work and fight to reach this level.”

It’s one match where anything can happen; you just need to look at the feeling surrounding Celtic Park when a European heavyweight comes to town, there’s always a belief that Celtic can snatch a result. It will be no different for the Bratislava fans tomorrow.

The visitors suffered a heavy 5-0 defeat a few weeks ago, but that shouldn’t be looked into too much. The players were just off the back of qualifying for the Champions League for the first time in their History and were given a few days off. They had said after the Game that it was tough to switch their mindset back to focus on the league match.