Brendan Rodgers on 'real privilege' of Celtic invite to meet the Pope as boss names crucial Champions League focus

Brendan Rodgers hopes Celtic can take a brilliant Champions League win with them to the Vatican.

The Parkhead manager and his team are desperate to defeat Lazio in Rome to keep their European aspirations alive for the campaign. Once the tie in the Stadio Olimpico is over, Rodgers and Celtic staff have an invite to a private audience with Pope Francis on Wednesday morning. Vatican officials have yet to confirm the meeting with the Pope having reportedly been suffering from mild cold and flu symptoms.

But, should the visit go ahead, Rodgers admits it would be special and said: “That will be absolutely amazing. We would be blessed to do that, it would be a real privilege. Hopefully we can take a really nice result to the Vatican.” In order to get the result he craves and a first Champions League group stage away win in six years, Rodgers knows his boys have to be streetwise and disciplined having lost three players to red cards in just a couple of away outings in Group E.

On matchday one, Gustaf Lagerbielke and Odin Thiago Holm left Celtic with nine men during the loss to Feyenoord in Rotterdam. Then, in their latest outing against Atletico in Madrid, Japanese attacker Daizen Maeda was ordered-off following a controversial VAR call.

Rodgers knows the importance of keeping a full complement of players on the park at such a testing level of the game and has given a clear message to the group. He said: “Discipline is one of the key factors for us. I’ve been pleased with how competitive we’ve been when it’s been 11 against 11 in the competition.

“We have played some really good football and have defended as well as you can at this level when there are so many talented players. But we’ve had men sent off in two games now