Mark Devlin 
Steve Welsh/Getty Images Sport
Brendan Rodgers has admitted that Borussia Monchengladbach were better side in last night’s Champions League tie and knows where his Celtic side have to improve.
The German outfit came out on top as 2-0 winners in Glasgow, with Celtic now facing an uphill battle to qualify for European football beyond Christmas.
Andre Schubert’s Monchengladbach side are now strong favourites to finish third in the group, as Barcelona and Manchester City are both tipped to qualify for the last-16.
As quoted by STV Sport, Rodgers spoke of the quality of the opposing side, saying:
They were better than us. I think you look at their experience over the last four or five years and what they’ve gained domestically and in Champions League.
I know what this team needs. It’s why we were never getting carried away. There’s areas in the team that we know in the next couple of years to compete consistently at this level, what we need to have in there. But the players gave everything tonight. They carried out everything that we wanted them to do but they were just better than us.
It was always going to be a difficult few games in the Champions League, especially with the sort of quality the Hoops were up against in their group.
Rodgers also made justifiable comments regarding the current Celtic team and how games like these help them improve for the future.
We qualified for the tournament so this is going to be a great year for seeing what the team needs to compete consistently at this level and those are areas that we’ll hopefully work on in the next season or so.
It’s slow change. You need a certain quality and a certain tempo, power and speed at this level. This is a level that’s up two or three levels from where you play domestically but that’s the beauty of it.
Celtic’s next fixture in the competition is a trip to Germany where they’ll face Monchengladbach once again on Tuesday November 1st on matchday four in the competition.
Before then is the League Cup semi-final at Hampden, an important game for the Rodgers and his players to now focus on to move once step closer to his first trophy at the club since joining in May.
