Celtic: Brendan Rodgers says Champions League 'disappointment' is gone

Brendan Rodgers says Celtic are focusing on securing their place in the League Cup final

Brendan Rodgers insists "all the disappointment is gone" from Celtic's Champions League defeat as they target a place in the League Cup final.

Celtic lost 3-0 to Group B opponents Bayern Munich and return to domestic matters and a semi-final against Hibernian at Hampden on Saturday.

Rodgers said his Celtic side have demonstrated they can bounce back from European losses.

And the Celtic manager expects "a tight game, a tough game" at Hampden.

"We got back in the early hours of Thursday morning so the boys had a free day yesterday to recover," he said.

"It's not a new situation for us. It's about preparing the best you can physically and mentally; come tomorrow the players will be ready.

"They have got this real determination and it's something we will take into the game.

"We go with an aggressive, positive mindset and we hope we have the game model to get us a victory.

"If you look back to last year's semi-finals and finals, we played very well. We played with composure and confidence in the pressure situations."

In defence of the trophy, Rodgers chooses from the same squad, with defenders Jozo Simunovic, Erik Sviatchenko and Anthony Ralston still missing through injuries.

Rodgers picked up the League Cup last season as Celtic completed an unprecedented unbeaten treble

Simunovic did not travel to Germany after the recurrence of a hamstring problem.

"It's a repeat of what he had before, so he's probably out for a few weeks but I'll get more detail on that today," said Rodgers, who played Mikael Lustig at centre-half against Bayern and used Cristian Gamboa at right-back.

'The players are on the right track'

Gamboa was given a torrid time on Wednesday as Rodgers stuck with his usual 4-2-3-1 system against the five-time champions of Europe.

In the wake of a one-sided defeat, the manager was adamant that he would not change his approach and he touched on the topic again.

He explained: "As a manager, what you learn, especially with experience, is that if you ever go down, go down with your own vision. Not with someone else's.

"People say park the bus or be pragmatic. We tried that in Barcelona. We lost 7-0.

"It's not how I work. We have an idea of how we play which is first and foremost fundamentally an aggressive way to defend.

"If you look at the competitions, we defend well, we press well. But of course if you are playing against that level of quality, at times that quality can open you up.

"But for us it's just about progress. The players are on the right track.

"First half, we didn't have as many attacking moments as we would have liked. But the players grew into the game and in the last 30 minutes they showed the confidence, if you play that way, you can still create opportunities.

"We reflect on that and we move on."