Europa League: Celtic need repeat of 'perfect game' v Zenit - Brendan Rodgers
- Published
Rodgers was full of praise for his side's first-leg performance
Europa League last-32, second leg: Zenit St Petersburg v Celtic |
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Venue: Krestovsky Stadium, Saint Petersburg Date: Thursday 22 February Kick-off: 18:00 GMT |
Coverage: Live commentary on BBC Radio Scotland MW & DAB and live text on BBC Sport website |
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers believes his side will need to replicate their "perfect game" from the first leg to overcome Zenit St Petersburg.
Rodgers' side hold a 1-0 advantage ahead of Thursday's Europa League round-of-32 second leg in Russia.
"Our concentration and quality was at a really high level," Rodgers said. "We know we need to replicate that.
"If they play with that aggression and quality and that intensity, then it gives us a great opportunity."
Rodgers claimed Celtic were underdogs ahead of the home leg and insists most people will still make Zenit favourites to progress despite the Scottish champions holding a slender advantage.
"At the beginning of the first leg, I was being a realist," he explained. "I think everyone will probably expect Zenit to go through.
"What we showed in the first leg is we're going to make it very difficult for them. Probably, they were surprised by the quality of our football.
Callum McGregor's volleyed winner earned Celtic a precious lead to take to Russia
"What we've shown is when we play with our quality and play to the top of our level, we can match any team.
"We've analysed the game from the first leg and even though we played very, very well, created opportunities, didn't concede, there's still areas we can be better in."
Celtic will perform under the roof at the Krestovsky Stadium, in vastly warmer conditions than the biting -15C outdoors in Saint Petersburg.
Rodgers has emphasised the need to keep emotion in check in front of a sold-out 56,000 crowd if Celtic are to complete the "huge achievement" of reaching the last 16.
"Everyone wants to qualify, you want to get through but you have to be able to play quality football," he added.
"I think it's important that you stay calm, to retain the emotion of the game, no matter how the game goes.
"Thankfully when we've been in that situation we've dealt very well with that. Hopefully we can do that again tomorrow."