Brendan Rodgers salutes 5 star Celtic then declares 'we're going to make this place a fortress'

Beaming Brendan Rodgers hailed his five-star Celtic after their record-breaking Champions League win got them off to a flyer on an epic European night at Parkhead.

Rodgers watched five different scorers hit the net to hammer Slovan Bratislava 5-1 and earn the Hoops' first ever opening group win and their biggest ever victory in the competition. The win sent Celtic soaring into second place in the new 36-team league phase as they sit behind German giants Bayern Munich ahead of tough trips to Borussia Dortmund and Atalanta in their next two games.

Liam Scales sent the Scottish champions on their way with an early header to open the scoring before Kyogo’s strike - his 75th for the Hoops since joining from Vissel Kobe - early in the second half doubled the lead. Arne Engels put the game beyond the Slovaks with a third from the penalty spot on the Belgian’s Champions League debut and while Kevin Wimmer netted a screamer for the visitors to give them a lifeline. Daizen Maeda added a fourth before substitute Adam Idah completed the romp with a late fifth.

And Rodgers said: “I’m so happy. It was an absolutely outstanding performance and result. We got in the lead, a good ball in and really good header. We had other good chances but I felt we just needed to play a little bit quicker.

“We were a fraction slower on the ball than what we would have liked and had three touches instead of two because our touch and pass tempo is really good when we get the rhythm in the game. We just reiterated a couple of things at half time and the second half ‘wow’- the greed of the players, the hunger, the pressing, the counter-pressing, just the mentality of the team, I was so proud.

“You can see we've got young players at the level so it's that,