Celtic and Rangers in the Champions League makes you wonder what Gerrard and Rodgers must think - Hugh Keevins

You wonder what was going through the minds of Brendan Rodgers and Steven Gerrard when the Champions League groups were being compiled in Istanbul on Thursday. Gerrard and Rodgers left Ibrox and Celtic Park in mid-season, both giving the impression they couldn’t get out of the country quickly enough.

Now, at their new clubs, they’re further from the Champions League than Alfredo Morelos is from being named Player of the Year. Former Celtic gaffer Rodgers, the last man to take one of the Old Firm into that stage of the competition in 2017, spent Tuesday night trying to get Leicester City past the might of Stockport County in the EFL Cup.

It required a penalty shoot-out to get them into the next round for a glamour tie against Newport County. It could have been Celtic versus Real Madrid, Brendan. Gerrard’s Aston Villa have also lost their way of late, sitting in the bottom half of the Premier League table. Rumblings about the manager’s job security have become audible in the background. It could have been Anfield and the return of the Prodigal Son, Stevie, if you’d stayed on at Rangers.

How much credit do Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Ange Postecoglou deserve for the work they’ve done in restoring the reputation of clubs who are lucky enough to have them? Rodgers teased the Celtic fans that he was there to bring them 10-in-a-row – but he was clearly waiting for any chance to get out of Scotland.

Gerrard stopped 10-in-a-row then fled the country in the belief he’d done all he had to do. But only after losing to Malmo and costing Rangers a place in the Champions League. That left van Bronckhorst to deal with the domestic collapse that followed while Postecoglou showed the resilience to overcome a chaotic start to his time