Away from the excitement of Celtic beating Rangers for a bit, Brendan Rodgers also has the Champions League to look forward to this month.
The Celtic boss has glamour away ties against Borussia Dortmund and Atalanta to look forward to as well as winable ties at home against the likes of Club Brugge and Slovan Bratislava.
However, it was Aston Villa that was on Rodgers’ mind after the Celtic boss revealed that he is excited about facing the former European Cup winners this season.
Rodgers’ ‘really exciting’ Champions League fixtures
The Celtic boss was speaking this morning on talkSPORT after giving his opinion on Celtic’s performance against Rangers.
And as the talk turned to the Champions League, Rodgers admits he can’t wait for the trip to Villa Park.
Rodgers said on talkSPORT, “I actually quite enjoyed the draw. Yeah, there was good anticipation because we’ve been used to the old format, and how is it going to be? Would it still be the same excitement?
“But yeah, we watched it at the training ground and really enjoyed it. Obviously, when the games come out, if you look, we play the Champions League finalists, we play the Europa League winners, Red Bull Leipzig, Young Boys, all these teams.
“So it’s going to be a really exciting period for us through to the end of January.
“Villa Park, I’ve been there a number of times in the Premier League and it’s a wonderful, really traditional stadium with a beautiful pitch.
“Unai has done a great job there over the last couple of years, getting them qualification, and they look at a club that’s really well organized behind the scenes providing the manager with the tools to go and elevate the team.
“And now he’s done a great job there. So we’ll look forward to that. And obviously, we’ve got one of my former players there, and Youri Tielemans who’s a very good player. I look forward to seeing Youri when the game comes.”
Celtic’s Champions League chance
This is probably one of the best chances Celtic have of getting out of the Champions League group stages this season.
Undoubtedly, Dortmund, Atalanta, Leipzig and Aston Villa will be tough opponents but the games against Young Boys, GNK Dinamo, Slovan Bratislava and Brugge do offer Rodgers a chance to pick up a sizeable number of points to qualify from the league phase.
The Celtic fans will be optimistic about their chances, especially after the way their team has started this season.
And so should the Celtic boss. Rodgers seems to have assembled a very good squad after his deadline day business and it will be interesting to see how the old and new signings fare in the newly revamped competition.
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