Leigh Griffiths praises Brendan Rodgers after Celtic’s Champions League play-off win
Hoops hammered Hapoel Be’er Sheva 5-2 at Parkhead in first leg but could have thrown lead away when 3-0 became 3-2
LEIGH GRIFFITHS reckons Brendan Rodgers is the reason why Celtic won’t endure yet another disastrous Champions League play-off defeat.
Hot striker Griffiths bagged another two for the season in a pulsating match against Hapoel Be’er Sheva at an electric Parkhead.
After being three up and cantering, the Hoops threatened to implode, suddenly conceding twice after the break.
But Griffiths, who produced a brilliant header and then a sensational free-kick in the last six minutes of the first half, insisted he and the rest of the team took their lead from a calm and composed Rodgers.
He also revealed the Hoops gaffer has drilled it into them how to cope with setbacks. Now Celtic are preparing for Israel early next week — 90 minutes away from sealing a first group stage place since 2013 and with it a £20million bounty.
Griffiths, left devastated by the play-off failure against Malmo in Sweden a year ago with the Celts also having conceded two at home, said: “We’re three up at half time and couldn’t have dreamt of a better start. Then for ten or 15 minutes we were very sloppy and gave away two goals.
“We showed great character and resilience to respond with two more goals and we got the result in the end.
“I was fearing a repeat of Malmo.
“I’m sure everybody was the exact same, losing two goals again. They would’ve been thinking, ‘It’s going to happen again’. But the manager’s got that aura about him for us to keep going.
“And we scored two extra goals and could’ve even have scored more in the end.
“We could’ve crumbled and I think a year ago we would have.
“Losing two goals of that magnitude, we could’ve crumbled and they probably would have got an equaliser. But 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, the lads never stopped and that’s why we could have scored even more.
“We had to keep going, stick together — that’s what great teams do. That belief comes from the manager. He has instilled that in us from day one. If we concede a goal he doesn’t want us to let the heads go down. He wants us to keep going and get extra goals, and we did that.
“If you had said to us before the game we’d take a three-goal lead to Israel then we would have snapped your hand off.”
Related Stories
Griffiths wants to be a Champions League group stage striker as much as anything else he has desired in his career.
And now he’s agonisingly close to adding that status to his international caps and his trophies with Celtic.
Griff added: “We feel we’re very close to the group stages now but it’s going to take another hard 90 minutes for us to get through.
“They’ll throw everything at us. We need to show great character, determination and resilience to get through.
“Hopefully next Wednesday we’re on the plane coming home making that group stage.
“I want to be a Champions League striker, I want to fire us into the group stages.
“But the only way I’ll do that is by hopefully getting chances and taking them next week.
“We’ve got a great lead but it’s going to take another heroic 90 minutes for us to go through. They’re going to be at it, it’s going to be warm, it’s going to be hostile, but we’re used to that. We know we’ll be under pressure too, but it’s how we handle that.”
Griffiths added: “My kids weren’t here because they have school tomorrow. But they will have watched me on television scoring goals.
“My celebration was for my family who were here. It was for them.
“We’re very happy with our lead but we can’t rest on that.”