Brendan Rodgers sees Celtic victory over RB Leipzig as 'a generational game'

Brendan Rodgers has described Celtic’s Champions League win over RB Leipzig as “a generational game” and says the aim is for the team to sustain that level in Europe.

The 3-1 victory over a side sitting second in the Bundesliga was a huge boost to Celtic’s hopes of reaching the knockout stage of the competition but also drew plaudits for a side that was heavily criticised for a 7-1 defeat to Borussia Dortmund only five weeks ago.

Now Rodgers is looking back on a week that saw his side demolish Aberdeen 6-0 in the Premier Sports Cup at Hampden before taking all three points on a huge European night he believes is the culmination of a year’s hard work.

“I think the four days from the game from Saturday’s performance to get us to the League Cup final, it was a real statement win for us domestically,” he said.

“But then to go into a game of that magnitude against that level of opponent, I’ve heard it talked about a generational game and I couldn’t argue with that.

“The performance level is something we’ve been working towards for the last 12-16 months. Obviously going back to last season and our performances against Atletico Madrid and away to Feyenoord, when we lost.

“I know that people will look purely at the score but for me it’s about the process and the buildup to that and even partly the Dortmund game plays a part in that.”

The result, along with a win over Slovan Bratislava and a draw in Atalanta, puts Celtic on seven points at the halfway stage of the League Phase and with a good chance to qualify for the knockouts. The Celtic boss is hoping to build on that foundation and deliver more positive results.

“We’ve started off the Champions League really, really well with three good performances out of four,” Rodgers said.

“It made me so proud just watching the team and the level of the team and how aggressive we were with and without the ball against a genuine top side.

“You can’t underestimate the confidence that a win like that and the performance in Atalanta in a different way, what that brings to you. The level was so high with and without the ball. And that gives us great confidence going forward.

“But there’s still lots of improvements that the team can make and the individuals can make, and we’ll make over the coming months. We study the game and we reinforce with the players the process that we are in and how we’re looking to improve.

“We’ve been waiting probably as a club and a support base for a performance like that for a while.”

“It’s not just to perform, but to win and perform to that level. And we want to sustain that. And I think we’ve shown in three of the four games in the Champions League that we’re actually a good side.

“The process is all about looking to sustain it at that level. And you look to try and do that over numbers of years, not just a couple of games. But it was a big step I felt we made in the last few games and in particular the one at home.”

Rodgers said that his players were “glowing” after the landmark win and that he had been impressed with every aspect of their play in front of a packed and noisy Celtic Park.

He said: “Watching it back and seeing the tactical discipline in the team and the work-rate of the team and the ambition in the team, but then the absolute quality of the players, the technical level that they played and the speed and the pace in the game and how creative we were, it was so, so good.

“Once you do that on the field, Celtic Park was built for performances and nights like that. And you sensed and felt what the crowd thought of it and that gave a big, big energy to the team.”