Rodgers knows pressure is on ahead of Thursday’s Europa League clash

Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers hopes that his side will be at their best on Thursday night for their crucial Europa League clash with RB Leipzig at Celtic Park, Sky Sports reports.

Thursday’s clash is a must-win for Rodger’s side in order to progress through to the knock-out stages of the European competition.

The Hoops currently sit third in Group D ahead of the Leipzig game.

Rodgers is hoping the Celtic fans will get behind his side and provide his squad with an extra boost on Thursday night.

Prior to the game, Rodgers said:

I think it’s one where people will look at it as a pressure game, but not every pressure situation is a negative.

I think we see the pressure moments as opportunities for you to go and show your qualities. In the first game, I think for the first half an hour we looked fine in the game but when we conceded we didn’t play well after that, both with and without the ball.

Tomorrow night is obviously a different game at Celtic Park. Our supporters are everything for us, they really push us on and help us, and of course we know we are playing at a much better level and we know need to play at the very highest level to get a result.

The team is really confident and playing well, scoring goals, defensively strong.

We know it’s a tough game for us but we love playing at Celtic Park and we know – if we are to progress or have any opportunity to progress into the group stages – it is a game we have to win.

RB Leipzig currently sit third in the Bundesliga after a good start to the season, but Rodgers is confident that his side can carry for their impressive league performances into Thursday night’s Europa League clash.

When we’re at our best we are very much a team that defends forward, presses the game.

Of course, you cannot press the game for the entire 90 minutes but it’s in those moments when you can’t press that you are very compact as a team together, close the spaces and make sure you are really aggressive on your press.

At this level, you cannot afford to be timid. You have to be really aggressive. I have every confidence that with the players we have we can go on and put on a good demonstration of our qualities. And like I say, our aim is to win the game.