Celtic vs Atletico Madrid: 'We don't need to be best team in the world,' says Brendan Rodgers
Brendan Rodgers admits Celtic need a result against Atletico Madrid to keep their European hopes alive; they are bottom of Champions League Group E after back-to-back defeats against Lazio and Feyenoord
Wednesday 25 October 2023 21:44, UK
Brendan Rodgers wants his Celtic players to learn from adversity as he insists they "don't have to be the best team in the world" to beat Atletico Madrid in the Champions League.
They host the Spanish side in Group E looking to bounce back from their late home defeat to Lazio in their last match.
Atletico and Lazio sit top of Champions League Group E with four points, a point above Feyenoord with the Hoops still searching for their first point.
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Atletico are fourth in LaLiga, three points off first place.
"It's a fantastic team that we're playing against one of the best in the world, but we don't have to be the best team in the world to win," said Rodgers.
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"We just need to educate our pressure, play well and you have to raise your luck a little bit as well.
"Hopefully everything all combined with the supporters we can have a great night and certainly we'll be giving everything to get the result we want."
A stoppage-time goal saw Celtic lose 2-1 to Lazio earlier this month in a match Rodgers believed they should have won.
He wants his players to use the pain of that defeat to drive them as they look to remain with a chance of securing European football after Christmas.
"Adversity is some of the best learning that you have," added Rodgers who is unbeaten in the Scottish Premiership since returning to Celtic.
"The pain of that [defeat] was numbing because we didn't feel it we deserved that.
"I'm not here to be taking condolences after losing games of football but I respect the level that we're at and it's up to us to try and see if we can be more progressive in our results in order to push forward.
"I think it's important for us if we're going to progress in any of the competitions we have to take something otherwise it''s a hugely difficult challenge for us."
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