Charlie Nicholas claims Rodgers could quit after Zenit loss

Sky Sports pundit and former Celtic player Charlie Nicholas has suggested that Brendan Rodgers may choose to quit his job at the Glasgow club after another underwhelming European performance.

Celtic were dumped out the Europa League after their 3-0 loss to Zenit St. Petersburg, despite leading the tie 1-0 after an excellent home display last week.

As revealed by The Scotsman, Nicholas has written that Rodgers may have taken Celtic as far as they can go in Europe and may look to clubs elsewhere.

Celtic announced earlier this month that they have a whopping £30m in the bank. They may be cash-rich in Scottish football terms, but they proved once again they are paupers on the European stage as they went out of the Europa League with a whimper. The manner of their defeat in the Krestovsky Stadium has me concerned that Brendan Rodgers may soon start to question his long-term future at Celtic.

First half goals from Branislav Ivanovic and Daler Kuzyayev gave Roberto Mancini’s men command of the tie before Aleksandr Kokorin wrapped up a very poor night in Russia for Celtic.

The defeat means you still have to look back to 2004 to when Celtic last won a European knock-out tie, when they put out Barcelona with a 1-0 aggregate score over the two legs under Martin O’Neill’s management.

The stats make grim reading for Rodgers, who will now need to focus his side on domestic football as they look to secure a second treble in a row.