Brendan Rodgers set Celtic Champions League 'scalp' challenge as ex boss tells him what is needed to progress

Gordon Strachan insists Celtic will have to give one of the big guns a bloody nose to give them their best chance of progressing to the Champions League knockout stage.

The former Hoops boss defeated both AC Milan and Manchester United at Parkhead during his days in the Parkhead hot-seat as he twice guided Celtic into the last-16 of Uefa’s premier competition, losing to Barcelona and AC Milan.

Brendan Rodgers is now looking to get to the knockout stage for the first time with the tournament expanded and Strachan reckons an extra home game in front of the raucous Parkhead crowd can give them the edge. They kick off at home to Slovan Bratislava with games against RB Leipzig, Young Boys, Borussia Dortmund, Atalanta, Dinamo Zagreb, Club Brugge and a Battle of Britain against Aston Villa.

And Strachan said: “In the previous format, I always believed you needed at least one big scalp to get through. We managed to beat AC Milan and this was when Milan were at their absolute peak. That was a great Milan team we beat in 2007-08. We beat Manchester United the season before. When you’re playing the best teams with the best players, when you can give your fans a victory, those are the special nights that live long in the memory.

“That’s what you need to get through and I imagine it will be the same with the new format. The extra game at Celtic Park could give them an advantage. Brendan Rodgers has mentioned he wants to have a real go in the competition this season and that could help him.”

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