Brendan Rodgers smirks as Celtic sincerity questioned on Dutch TV with interviewer stunned by 'real fan' credentials

Grinning Brendan Rodgers insisted he was only concentrating on getting a result for Celtic over Feyenoord after being dubbed a "real fan" of Dutch football by an interviewer.

The Scottish Premiership champions will kick off their Champions League group stage campaign in Rotterdam with Arne Slot's men offering an early test of Celtic's European pedigree as the Hoops look to reach the knockout stage. Atletico Madrid and Lazio will face off elsewhere in the group and Rodgers will be keen to take a positive result back to Glasgow's east end having held ambitions of making a mark in Europe when he returned to Celtic Park.

And while his Parkhead allegiance is clear going into the clash in the Netherlands, he was more than happy to gush about the influence Dutch football has had in shaping his coaching career - as he singled former Feyenoord boss Wiel Coerver. Coerver took the Eredivise and UEFA Cup to Rotterdam in 1974, and Rodgers name checked the boss to VTBL when quizzed about the Hoops style of play.

He said: "The style of Celtic has always been the same. I think now we have a real diversity at Celtic with Japanese players that come in and work very hard that are very technical.

"Wiel Coerver is somebody here who I studied all fo the videos and read the books and obviously those Japanese players were very prominent in the development of Coerver coaching, so mixed in with all the other nationalities we have a really technical group."

The interviewer was left impressed. He then quizzed: "I'm talking to a real fan of Dutch football today but tomorrow, a little bit less maybe?"

Rodgers went on: I'm was a big fan of Dutch football and I still am. Spain and Holland were my big influences as a young coach, I used to travel