First-leg win gives Celtic ´a wonderful opportunity´, says Rodgers

Brendan Rodgers’ praised his Celtic side following their Europa League first-leg win over Zenit, but insisted there is still work to do in the last-32 tie.

The Scottish Premiership champions looked set to be frustrated as they failed to turn their dominance into a goal at Celtic Park, with Rodgers tweaking his tactics and struggling for creativity in the final third.

But substitute Charly Musonda created the winner for Callum McGregor 12 minutes from time, leaving the Celtic boss delighted with both the performance and the result.

“I thought it was a brilliant performance from start to finish,” Rodgers told BT Sport. “We limited [Zenit] and it was a very mature performance.

“We showed our personality and the development of the team. I’m very happy, but we’re only halfway there.

“We knew it would be two difficult games, but we’ve given ourselves a wonderful opportunity. We defended very well, we’ll take the clean sheet and it sets it up for next week.”

Celtic travel to Zenit’s Krestovsky Stadium next Thursday for the return fixture.

What a way to mark your th #CelticFC appearance, Cal! pic.twitter.com/yQfDYk4mKW

— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) February 15, 2018