AEK Athens v Celtic preview: Brendan Rodgers says Celtic ‘slightly behind’ in Champions League qualifier
Brendan Rodgers deemed Celtic „slightly behind“ in their Champions League qualifier with AEK Athens despite drawing the first leg.
The Scottish Premiership champions travel to Greece on Tuesday with the scores tied at 1-1 in the third qualifying round, but with a need to score after Viktor Klonaridis’ equaliser at Celtic Park last week.
Since then, Celtic have fallen to a shock league defeat at Hearts and have had to knock back rumours Rodgers could be set to resign from his position at the club.
But Rodgers says he is confident of putting in a good performance in Athens, and progressing to a play-off clash with Swedish side Malmo or Hungarians Vidi in the play-off round.
He told Celtic’s website: „It was a fairly close game against Hearts. There weren’t many big chances in the game. It was a scrap from start to finish, and one strike ended up in the bottom corner and they got the win, but I don’t think there was much in the game.
„We would have looked to carry a bigger threat but we ended up giving away a bad goal and lost the game. But if you look at our team, it was still strong enough to have won the game. There was one good finish in the game and that was the difference, so I don’t think we can go looking for too many excuses. We just didn’t get the job done.
„Now we’re looking ahead to the game against AEK Athens, and it’s a massive opportunity for us to go and put in a good performance and try to get through to the next round.
„We are slightly behind in the tie so we have to go there and be very positive and we’ve definitely got the players and the team capable of going there and winning the game.
„That’s what we’ve got to concentrate on now. We have to recover from the game on Saturday but now all the focus is on trying to get through to the next round.“
Team news
Fit-again French striker Moussa Dembele will start on the bench for Celtic in their Champions League qualifying clash with AEK Athens on Tuesday night.
Defender Kristoffer Ajer is suspended for the second leg of the third qualifier in Greece.
Defender Dedryck Boyata remains in Glasgow with a back injury amid speculation about his future, while Marvin Compper and Lewis Morgan are working their way back from injuries.
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