Celtic’s restored menace cranks up Old Firm pressure on Rangers
Brendan Rodgers is eyeing European success as a feeling of inevitability surrounds his side’s domestic dominance
There feels inevitability around Celtic winning – or at least not losing – the first Old Firm meeting of the season. What will follow after dust settles on a crash, bang, wallop occasion at Celtic Park is more surprising – outbreaks of sense and sensibility on either half of Glasgow’s football divide.
Brendan Rodgers appears to have realised the world outside Scotland shrugs shoulders when Celtic prevail on the domestic scene. The manager has placed Champions League competitiveness, or progress, at the forefront of his aspirations for this campaign. Rodgers has directly stated he wants his team to aim for a playoff place from the new format. This attitude is long overdue: for more than a decade, Celtic have made up the numbers in Europe. “We don’t want to just participate,” says Rodgers. The manager is “excited” by the challenge rather than in awe of it.
