Steve Welsh/Getty Images Sport
Leigh Griffiths believes Celtic would have struggled to win their game last night had they played it a year ago.
Celtic were at the same stage last season under Ronny Deila and got a narrow 3-2 win in their play-off tie with Malmo at Paradise.
There were shades of that game last night when Hapoel Be’er Sheva scored twice in two minutes, the difference this time was in the dugout – and his name is Brendan Rodgers.
Speaking about the manager, the 25-year-old striker hailed Rodgers for his impact on the players, most of whom were at the club last season.
As quoted by the Daily Mail, he said:
When they started scoring, I’m sure everybody thought: “Not again”.
We could have crumbled and I think a year ago we would have. Losing two goals of that magnitude, we could have crumbled and they probably would have got an equaliser.
And the boys showed great character to bounce back and keep going.

The manager just wants us to keep going, we feel really fit and you can see that. The boys were running all over the park for 90 minutes, they never stopped and that’s why we could have scored even more.
That belief comes from the manager. He’s instilled that in us from day one.
Griffiths has scored five goals in Champions league qualification so far, and has continued where he left off last season for Celtic when he found the net 40 times.
Twitter: Celtic 5-2 Hapoel Be’er Sheva (17/8/16)
Rogic ⚽️
Griffiths ⚽️⚽️
Dembele ⚽️
Brown ⚽️https://t.co/CKfeF76Px4 (@ReadCeltic)
Tom Rogic opened the scoring before the striker scored two more first half goals giving the home side a comfortable lead.
After conceding two goals in two minutes, the Hoops responded with two more goals through substitute Moussa Dembele and captain Scott Brown.
Celtic have the return leg next Tuesday to prepare for in Israel, but will also be looking to maintain their domestic league dominance on Saturday when they travel to face St Johnstone.