Brendan Rodgers says Celtic will “play for our supporters’ dreams” when they face Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League on Tuesday night.
Celtic, who had failed to win on German soil in 14 previous attempts, traveled to Signal Iduna Park in good form after making their 17th successive win with a 6-0 win over St Johnstone on Saturday.
They have scored 33 goals in nine games this season, including five in their Champions League opener against Slovan Bratislava.
They have now gone from debutants at this level to last season’s runners-up, but Rodgers just wants his players to do themselves justice and leave it all on the pitch.
“We’re trying to take our game to the next level. The way we’ve been doing it over the last six or seven months has increased and now we’re at this level,” Rodgers said in his pre-match press conference.
“We play for the dreams of the thousands of supporters who have traveled here, and we play to enjoy this experience ourselves.
“It’s a great stadium (and the message is) let’s go and embrace it, let’s go and cherish this big game and see where it takes us.
“After the game, if we did that, if we gave everything, if we played with the spirit we did and didn’t get the result, then you ran and fought and you played, you pressed, you attacked and you can’t do more than that. doesn’t exist.
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William Hill Scottish Premiership match highlights between St Johnstone and Celtic
“The game is about tiers, tiers and levels and for us there is interest in seeing competition at this level.
“I’ve always said: whether we play domestically or away, with or without the ball, they make us a really, really difficult team to play against.”
“That’s what I hope we can do. I’m not looking for perfection. I’m just looking for players who are really, really difficult for us to play against and who will give it everything we’ve got.”
Carter-Vickers misses trip to Dortmund
Cameron Carter-Vickers will miss the Champions League match against Borussia Dortmund.
The centre-back has suffered a toe injury in recent weeks, which has ruled him out of Celtic’s last two games and also left him out of the Germany squad.
Fellow USA international Auston Trusty featured in games against Falkirk and St Johnstone and looks set to make his first Champions League start at Signal Iduna Park.
Rodgers said: “Cam is unavailable. We’ll see what he does next weekend, but he’s not here this weekend.
“Obviously he is a top-class player for us and he missed out on a bit of Champions League football, unfortunately missing five of the 12 games the club played at the time.”
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Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers said Cameron Carter-Vickers’ toe injury will need to be managed last week.
“But we have other players, there’s always an opportunity for someone else to come in and hopefully we can get Cam back sooner rather than later.
“But we can’t overthink it. We will rely on the collective. There is no one player who has brought us the results and the form we have had this season. Of course he is a very important player, Cam. But if we What you get is the results are about the group.”
Sahin: I am a big fan of Kyōgo.
Dortmund manager Nuri Sahin has declared he is a huge fan of Celtic forward Kyōgo Furuhashi ahead of their Champions League meeting.
The 29-year-old has four goals in his last four games ahead of Tuesday’s game. One of those goals came in Celtic’s 5-1 win over Slovan Bratislava.
Asked about Celtic’s main threat, Sahin said: “If you really want to know the name, I’m a huge fan of your striker.
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Sky Sports’ Chris Boyd said last month that Kyōgo Furuhashi ‘could do the job’ at Manchester City.
“Furuhashi is not the typical striker we are used to. He is a great player. But he is very smart and I really like the way he moves on the ball and the timing of his goals. I see a player who is tactically very smart.”
Furuhashi scored twice in Saturday’s 6-0 win over St Johnstone and Sahin certainly did not underestimate the threat posed by the visitors from Glasgow.
Borussia Dortmund manager Nuri Sahin
Asked if Celtic were underdogs who could pull off a surprise, the 36-year-old said: “You’re talking about a team that hasn’t lost many games and hasn’t lost a goal in the league and dominated in their first Champions League game. showed.
“What can you tell us about Celtic? They are a very prestigious club with amazing talent in the squad and a fantastic coach.
Celtic’s Daizen Maeda vs SK Slovan Bratislava
“It will be a challenge for us, but at the same time playing in our stadium will be a huge challenge, a huge challenge that we haven’t had this season. I’m really looking forward to it.”
“To be honest, I don’t think it’s fair to call them underdogs.”
