BRENDAN RODGERS claims Celtic’s 7-1 Champions League defeat by Paris St Germain brought more encouragement than their seven-goal thrashing by Barcelona last season.
Former PSG youth player Moussa Dembele fired the Hoops into a stunning first-minute lead in the Parc des Princes but that served only to rile the home side, who reacted to the loss of the first goal in the Champions League in style.
A Neymar double was followed by goals from Edinson Cavani and Kylian Mbappe before the break but the big-spending French club, who had won 5-0 at Parkhead on match day one, were even more ruthless in the second half with goals from Marco Verratti, Cavani and Dani Alves compounding the Hoops’ misery.
The Scottish champions lost 7-0 in the Nou Camp last season, which Rodgers referred to in his post-match press conference.
In numbers: Brendan Rodgers’ Champions League record at Celtic
He said: “We conceded seven goals in Barcelona when I first came in and I was very disappointed after that.
“But in a strange way, I thought there were lots of good moments in this game.
“We made a great start which gave us belief, we started the game well, defending strong with good focus and quality.
“We gave the ball away in midfield and of course that gives them the opportunity to get the goal.
“I was most disappointed in the spell after that. We gave away disappointing goals but we still had moments when we broke through, I thought we had a penalty shout with Moussa and we looked a threat at times.
“I was looking at the score line and thinking we had conceded disappointing goals but we look okay in the game.
“When it gets to 4-1 you are trying to limit the damage and we were compact and tight and then they score three goals out of nothing really.
“There are lessons for us, we can keep the ball better and defend better but you also have to admire the sheer quality of PSG.
“You can’t analyse the game and not talk about them, they must have had 11 shots and seven went in and with quality.
“So it was a sore one for us but certainly I am nowhere near as disappointed as I was, funnily enough, against Barcelona.”
The Parkhead club are still in third place in Group B, three points ahead of Anderlecht and now look to clinch a Europa League spot against the Belgian side in their final Group B fixture at Parkhead next month.
More pressingly, Rodgers is confident his players will have recovered for Sunday’s Betfred Cup final against Motherwell at Hampden Park.
He said: “Of course , with professional pride you are not so pleased and happy when you lose seven goals, but they gave everything.
“I would be very surprised if they (PSG) don’t make the final with the sheer level and quality they have in the team and the confidence which they play with each other.
“So we will be absolutely fine.
“We will be back on the training field and we will be ready and even more determined now to win on Sunday.”
PSG manager Unai Emery was asked if his team underestimated Celtic early on.
“We say the same thing every time: you have to respect the opponents,” Emery said. “They are capable of creating a surprise. In the first 15-20 minutes we allowed counter-attacks, but the team closed down the spaces well.”
The Parisians set a record for the most goals scored by a team in the group stage of the Champions League, taking their haul to 24 with one game to go.
But if they lose to Bayern Munich by four goals in Germany next month then PSG will lose top spot and have to settle for being runners-up.
Emery said, according to Le Parisien: “It will be a good test against a team capable of winning the Champions League.”
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