Celtic

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Adam Idah says he is relishing the challenge of becoming Celtic's first-choice striker, and believes more goals will follow after his two impressive strikes against Aston Villa in the Champions League.

Idah reacted well to volley home Greg Taylor's deflected cross before sweeping home Reo Hatate's square ball to bring Celtic level at half-time.

The Premier League side proved too strong after the break, eventually running out 4-2 winners, which left Idah with contrasting emotions.

"On a personal note it's obviously great to get the two goals and get the team back in, but it's obviously quite disappointing with the result," he told BBC Scotland.

With Kyogo's departure to French club Rennes this month, some have questioned whether Idah is the man to fill the Japanese striker's boots, but the former Norwich City man is determined to take his chance.

"I think any striker wants to play all the time and Kyogo has been fantastic," he added.

"He's a legend at the club and it was good playing with him, watching him. He was an unbelievable player but now it's up to me. I've got big boots to fill and it's great motivation. I just want to keep the spot now and keep going.

"All I can do is give my best for the team and when I do get that chance, try and take it. It's part of football."

Before his two strikes in Birmingham, Idah hadn't scored since 30 November, but he insists he didn't think he had a point to prove to himself or his manager.

"I've obviously not scored in a couple of games, but I'm probably going to have that so many times in my career," he said.

"It's not the end of the world to me. Of course, it's a bonus to get the goals, but for me it's alright, once I work hard, the goals will come. I've been through it before.

"It's good for me to get my confidence up, getting on the scoresheet, giving me that motivation to want more."

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Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has spoke of his pride at "playing our part in a really good game".

"It was a brilliant game to be involved in. The word that strikes me at the moment is pride.

"We're coming to a team that over the last couple of years have been at the highest level in the PL. We played with so much courage.

"They get the first goal and a quick second and then there's a question asked of you as a team, everything about you. But the players continued to play, we started to get into contention, got our aggression back and that gave us the opportunity.

"We scored two very good goals, and overall to take the game to injury time was a great effort. We're obviously disappointed to lose but we played our part in a really good game.

"That was always the objective, to come in and be competitive at this level. You see the work we need to do to improve the squad, to really be able to sustain that challenge. We were having to bring on young players who haven't played for Celtic before."

On the draw, Rodgers added, "it's a huge challenge".

"We have qualified on merit and showed quality on the way. We carried threat throughout the night. Just unfortunate we concede the fourth late on with the mistake.

"We know it's either Bayern Munich or Real Madrid in the next round, so that'll be a huge challenge. We're building confidence and showing we're a team that can play and make it difficult for the top teams.

"Whoever we play are clearly top-level teams."

Jane Lewis
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter at Villa Park

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When Aston Villa's Morgan Rogers scored twice inside the opening five minutes, you feared the worst for Celtic.

Villa's movement, their slick passing and the quickness of their play was scintillating and Celtic must have wondered what had hit them.

It could have knocked the stuffing out of them, but in fairness to the Scottish champions they grew into the match and started to get forward and create chances.

That seemed to give them belief, and from there they showed great character and resilience to get back into a game that looked lost. Adam Idah's brilliant finishes on 35 and 37 minutes came about after some superb build-up play from the visitors.

However, the home side upped the ante after the break and a third goal felt inevitable.

Despite taking a bit of confidence from Ollie Watkins' bizarre penalty miss, Celtic in the end were undone by Villa's quality, and overall the hosts deserved their win.

But Celtic can take heart from much of what they showed against an impressive side, and they'll take that into the Champions League play-off round.

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After the departure of Kyogo there were questions as to whether Adam Idah could step up and fill the void left by the Japanese striker.

Two excellent first-half finishes from him showed he has the ability to lead the line for Celtic moving forwards.

Tino
Fan writer

On his return to Celtic Park in June 2023, Brendan Rodgers was unequivocal in his determination to make Celtic competitive in Europe once again.

Something that had eluded him despite his trophy-laden first spell at the club.

A win and a draw last season - against Feyenoord and Atletico Madrid respectively - were a step in the right direction, but we again failed to progress to the knockout stage of European football's top tournament.

Fast forward to this season's newly-revamped Champions League and we now find ourselves in the unfamiliar position of being able to cruise into the last game, knowing we'll take our place in the next stage win, lose or draw.

However, what may be seen as a luxury fixture by some will be viewed very differently by the manager, who will relish the opportunity to silence detractors down south by putting on a performance at Villa Park.

That won't be easy against an elite manager in Unai Emery - a winner of no less than four Europe League titles during his time at Sevilla and Villarreal - and his talented pool of Premier League players.

And it's a task that will be even more challenging given the absence of Cameron Carter-Vickers (injured), Daizen Maeda (suspended) and the now departed Kyogo Furuhashi - but that in itself provides an opportunity for others to stake a claim and it could be a huge night for the likes of Liam Scales, Yang Hyun-Jun and Adam Idah.

The squad of course has been boosted by the much-hyped return of Portuguese superstar Jota, and though he won't be available for this one, his re-signing is a real show of intent by the club before the knockout stage.

At 25, the ex-Benfica youth is no project player, and should he be joined by another former hero in the experienced Kieran Tierney, 27, this month it would mark a clear sign of ambition by the manager and board.

Should we also add a talented striker to replace the talismanic Kyogo then we can look forward to the next stage as well as the remainder of the domestic campaign with real optimism.

In the bigger picture we now find ourselves with the strange feeling of having not too much to complain about as Celtic fans - and it's one I could see myself getting used to!

Let's hope that feeling remains intact by the time the final whistle blows tonight.

Tino can be found at The Celtic Exchange, external

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With Kyogo Furuhashi having left to join Rennes and Daizen Maeda suspended for Celtic's Champions League assignment at Aston Villa, Adam Idah has a massive chance to impress.

Since making his loan from Norwich City permanent in the summer, the 23-year-old striker has struggled to cement a place in Brendan Rodgers' starting line-up.

Idah has netted just eight goals in 32 appearances this season - and is currently on a 14-game run without scoring.

With Rodgers' attacking options depleted, though, the Republic of Ireland international is set to lead the line at Villa Park.

"This is a chance for Idah now," BBC Scotland's chief sportswriter Tom English told the Scottish Football Podcast.

"It might be a very limited window, but he needs to take advantage of it.

"He hasn't really hit his stride this season. When he came into the club last January, he scored a lot of important goals.

"When you look at the stats from his first six months in the team, his goals to shots on target was way higher than anybody else. It was way higher than [Hearts striker Lawrence] Shankland's last year, who was player of the year.

"Idah scored Old Firm goals, he scored the winning goal in the cup final. He was scoring important goals.

"This season he hasn't really scored important goals, he hasn't scored as many, and they haven't been as significant. So this is a chance for him now to show what he's got."

Chris Collinson
BBC Sport statistician

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In simple terms: Celtic have already qualified for the Champions League play-off round and have no realistic chance of finishing in the top eight.

The full version: Celtic would secure an extremely unlikely top-eight finish if they win at Aston Villa AND:

• All 10 sides immediately above them (Leverkusen, Villa, Monaco, Feyenoord, Lille, Brest, Dortmund, Bayern, Real Madrid and Juventus) fail to win (NB. Lille play Feyenoord and Brest play Real Madrid).

• OR 9 of the 10 sides immediately above them all fail to win AND Atalanta lose at Barcelona.

• OR Atletico and AC Milan both lose (with the required goal swing), Atalanta lose and 7 of the 10 sides immediately above Celtic all fail to win.

• Opta put the chances of any of this happening and Celtic finishing in the top eight at just 0.05%.

Jane Lewis
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

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Paulo Bernardo wants Celtic to head into the Champions League knockout rounds on a high by securing their first win over an English side in almost two decades.

Having already guaranteed a play-off spot, Brendan Rodgers' men complete the league phase at Aston Villa tonight.

Celtic are winless in six meetings with English teams since Shunsuke Nakamura's wonderful free-kick downed Manchester United 1-0 in 2006 to send his side through to the last 16 for the first time.

"We face a top team in England so we are really excited and I think it will be a great match to play and to watch," said Portuguese midfielder Bernardo.

"I think with Celtic we are used to playing with pressure all the games because we have a lot of responsibility to win every game.

"We did very well at this stage and we are really happy with our progress until here. We will try our best to get a great result."

Although recently-returned Jota cannot play at Villa Park, Bernardo admits his signing is an exciting one.

"He is a great player, a great person and I'm really excited to play with him."

And with Kieran Tierney joining in the summer at the latest, Bernardo believes Celtic are adding quality to the squad.

"I think we have a great group and if we can have this quality it's great for us," he added.

"It's always good to have better players in the squad and if we have a competitive group it's good for everyone. So yeah, I'm really happy."

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• Aston Villa and Celtic will meet for the first time; the Villans' only previous European fixture against a fellow British club came in 2023-24 Conference League qualifying, winning 8-0 on aggregate against Hibernian.

• Celtic have drawn their past three games against English opposition in the Champions League, drawing 1-1 at Manchester City in their most recent such game in December 2016.

• Only one Scottish side has ever won away from home against an English opponent in the European Cup/Champions League, with Celtic themselves beating Leeds United in April 1970 (1-0). Since then, English sides have gone unbeaten across the seven such fixtures (W5 D2).

• Celtic have qualified beyond the group stage/league phase of the Champions League for the first time since 2012-13. The Hoops have won three matches in the competition this term, last winning more in a European Cup/Champions League edition in 1973-74 (4), when they reached the semi-finals.

• Aston Villa were beaten away to Monaco last time out in the Champions League (0-1). However, Unai Emery hasn't lost consecutive games in the group/league phase of the competition since the 2015-16 campaign with Sevilla (Villa are the third side he's managed in the competition since then).

• Celtic have only won one of their last 21 away games in the Champions League (D5 L15), and are winless in 11 since beating Anderlecht in September 2017 (3-0). They have avoided defeat in the most recent two, though, drawing 0-0 against both Atalanta and Dinamo Zagreb.

• Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has won nine of his 19 career meetings with Aston Villa (D4 L6), with Crystal Palace (10 wins) being the only English side he has recorded more victories over in the dugout.

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Brondby want £14m for reported Celtic target Mathias Kvistgaarden, 22. (Mail+ - subscription), external

Norwegian club Sarpsborg will demand a package of more than £7m to sell 21-year-old winger Sondre Orjasaeter, who is attracting very concrete interest from Celtic. (TV2), external

Sarpsborg sporting director Hampus Andersson says they will do everything they can to at least keep a hold of Orjasaeter until the end of the season amid interest from Celtic, Fiorentina, Parma and Nice. (Sky Sports News via Record, external)

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers says he is not aware of any transfer bid for Orjasaeter. (Herald - subscription), external

Celtic, Nantes, Leuven, Al-Ahli and Rakow Częstochowa are showing interest in 21-year-old Randers forward Tammer Bany, for whom the Danish club have rejected bids from Union Saint-Gilloise and Lausanne already this month. (Tipsbladet), external

Middlesbrough have agreed a deal to sign 19-year-old Celtic full-back Josh Dede, who was out of contract in the summer but is poised to move to the Championship club within days. (Record), external

Wednesday's Scottish gossip

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Brendan Rodgers says Celtic's job is "certainly not complete" despite guaranteeing a Champions League play-off spot before their match at Aston Villa.

Celtic's win over Young Boys last week secured passage to the next round in the new-look competition, but the manager hopes his side can prove themselves against Premier League opposition on Wednesday in their final game of the league phase.

"I think that the Premier League is the most competitive league in the world," former Liverpool and Leicester boss Rodgers said.

"It's where lots of top players are, lots of top managers are but it's not the only league in the world.

"I think there were options for me to stay in the Premier League, my choice was to go to Scotland, to Celtic, and I'm so happy that I did.

"Okay, the competition might not be the same as what it is in the Premier League, but there are not many teams in the Premier League that rival the pressure that comes with managing a Celtic, or Rangers for that matter.

"There's always the opportunity for you to show your qualities as a team and as a club."

Celtic could still secure a top-eight finish and automatic qualification for the last 16, but many results would have to fall favourably elsewhere should they win.

"It's a great achievement to be in the top 24, I think, if you look at the economics at this level," Rodgers added.

"But for the players, they've been fantastic. They've worked very, very hard and do what we set out to do, which was to firstly arrive in the play-offs. So it's great.

"But our job's not complete in this series of eight games. We come here to a great venue. It's a fantastic team, but we want to come and and play to the level that we know we can."

Jane Lewis
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has been speaking to the media before the Champions League match with Aston Villa on Wednesday.

Here are the key lines from his press conference:

• Celtic have agreed a deal with Arsenal to sign Kieran Tierney in the summer, but Rodgers admits "ideally" they'd like to bring him in in January. "It would be great" if that could happen, "we would like to do that," he adds.

• The need for cover at left-back has been heightened by the loss of Alex Valle, who is in Barcelona finalising a loan to another club, which was also confirmed by the manager.

• Rodgers believes it's been "a great achievement" by his side to be in the top 24, and says the players have worked hard to get there, but the "job isn't complete".

• He insists Celtic have come to Villa Park to play at the level they know they can.

• On losing the "iconic" Kyogo Furuhashi from his squad and Daizen Maeda being suspended, Rodgers says both have been key players, especially in Europe, but he has the squad to cope without them, giving others a chance to step in.

• Cameron Carter-Vickers won't play on Wednesday, he has a niggle but should be okay for Sunday against Motherwell.

• Rodgers was full of praise for his counterpart Unai Emery, calling the job he's done with Aston Villa "top class".

• He is expecting a big challenge against "a very good side", who like to counter-attack, but it's a test he's looking forward to.

• On John McGinn, a player he tried to sign for Celtic, Rodgers says he is "instrumental" for Villa and the move to England has worked out well for him.