Brendan Rodgers looking to find right balance for Celtic’s Bayern Munich test

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers will aim to find the right balance between posing a threat and keeping their shape when they bid to pull off a shock against Bayern Munich.

Bayern generally dominated possession at Celtic Park in the first leg of the Champions League knockout phase play-off but Rodgers’ side showed they could put the Bundesliga leaders under pressure later in the game.

Celtic need to overturn a 2-1 deficit in the Allianz Arena but they will employ a measured approach.

“It’s about balance,” said Rodgers, whose side warmed up for the second leg with a 3-0 win over Dundee United on Saturday.

“I think that’s the idea. If you go out gung-ho the other night, then you can run out of legs at the level.

“You see it in the Champions League: you give everything and then all of a sudden you can get picked off with the quality.

“So it’s always about balance. There’s always a moment to press the game, especially when you’re away from home.

“It will be a balanced performance and you need to be concentrated because if you come out of position, that level of quality… you get players throughout the team, especially in attacking areas, that are world class.

“If you give world-class guys space, they can hurt you. So for us it’s a balance, but a real mentality to be progressive and see if we can make them think.”

Rodgers added: “We always want to keep our boldness, but our humility is important as well. We understand the size of the task, but we want to go and give the best that we possibly can.

“We know we’re going to have to defend for long periods of the game and defend well, but we also know that we can cause them a problem with the ball, and that’ll be the idea.”

Three impressive finishes from Callum McGregor, Jota and Adam Idah earned Celtic a routine win on Saturday against a Dundee United side who have now only scored two goals in seven games.

It is the first major test of United’s ability to bounce back this season, having only suffered back-to-back league defeats on one occasion before the turn of the year.

United have now lost four games on the trot and six out of seven in a tough spell of matches.

But they have a chance to get back to winning ways on Saturday when they host Motherwell, a team on a similar run of form.

Manager Jim Goodwin said: “I think the fixtures and the results of late probably don’t look great on paper but two of those defeats have been at Celtic Park, one at home against Rangers. The other three were narrow 1-0 defeats we believe could have gone either way.

“So we are very calm about the situation. We still believe we are in a good position.

“We’ve got a run of fixtures coming up which have huge significance, seven cup finals if you like, in the build-up to when the split comes.

“We have a target in mind and we will keep pushing to achieve it.”