Brendan Rodgers: Celtic and Anderlecht targeting each other
Tuesday 26 September 2017 18:23, UK
Brendan Rodgers believes Celtic and Anderlecht will be targeting victories over each other to make sure of qualification for the Europa League.
The Hoops travel to Brussels to play the Belgian champions on Wednesday night with both teams having begun their Group B campaigns with a defeat.
Anderlecht were beaten 3-0 at Bayern Munich while Celtic were sunk 5-0 at Parkhead by a Neymar-inspired Paris St-Germain and it is highly likely that the French and German teams will qualify for the knockout stages.
But the battle for third place remains less clear, and Rodgers feels Anderlecht will have targeted his team because he has done likewise.
"They're all pressure games; people will look at people like PSG as being clear favourites in those games and you're doing your best to get a result," he said.
"This game will be a lot tighter in terms of ability maybe but the pressures are still there because you put yourself under pressure.
"There's never an easy game and they'll be looking to get their season going and get a bit of confidence.
"Their manager has come in and changed their system twice so it will be interesting to see how they line up against us.
"It's a game where people will look at it as an opportunity for both teams to finish in the Europa League place."
And he added: "Our spirit is very strong. Every game is a pressure game. The players have coped fantastically with that. We know the games are v difficult but we know how we want to play.
"When you play at home you see that as an advantage to you. But we are a team that enjoy playing away, there's a little more on the home team to come and show intent to win.
"We have fast players who can counter-attack, so we will see how it turns out."
