Brendan Rodgers says Barcelona's brilliance puts Celtic's Nou Camp hammering in to perspective
Brendan Rodgers hailed Barcelona's comeback against Paris St Germain as "incredible'' and claimed it puts Celtic's 7-0 thrashing by the Catalans into context.
Brendan Rodgers hailed Barcelona's comeback against Paris St Germain as "incredible'' and claimed it puts Celtic's 7-0 thrashing by the Catalans into context.
Barca made Champions League history in dramatic style by recovering from a 4-0 last-16 deficit to beat the French side 6-1 in the Nou Camp on Wednesday night.
The Scottish champions suffered their record European defeat in their Group C fixture at the same venue in September before finishing bottom of the section which included Manchester City and Borussia Monchengladbach.
Speaking at the club's Lennoxtown training complex, Rodgers, preparing for the visit of Old Firm rival Rangers in the Ladbrokes Premiership on Sunday, watched Barca scale new heights with interest.
"Well, I thought our 7-0 didn't look so bad,'' said the Northern Irishman, who confirmed winger James Forrest is back in the squad after recovering from a knee injury.
"If they can score six against PSG, then it maybe was not as embarrassing as some of you guys said back then.
"They can do that, they did it to us and you see them doing it to one of the richest teams in the world.
"Incredible and what a message for players to be resilient and stick with it. Big quality and big belief from some of the best players in the world.''
The former Swansea and Liverpool boss also paid tribute to Moussa Dembele who picked up the Ladbrokes Premiership player of the month award for February.
The 20-year-old French striker, signed from Fulham last summer for a reported fee of £500,000, notched six league goals last month and his 12 strikes in the last six games has taken him to 32 for the season.
Amid all that, Dembele has scored five goals in three Old Firm games this season including a hat-trick in the 5-1 win over the Light Blues in September.
"He is a big-game player, no question of that,'' said Rodgers.
"Having worked with players that have that in big games and seeing that mentality in the biggest games, you can see that he has that.
"He has an inherent belief in his ability but he works hard on a daily basis and that is why he can go into the games with confidence and over the last month in particular he has been clinical.
"Hopefully that can be the case for the weekend.''
The runaway Ladbrokes Premiership leaders have gone 34 domestic games unbeaten since the start of the season and are 33 points ahead of third-placed Rangers.
Celtic have beaten Rangers three times this season already and after Sunday's clash will meet the Ibrox side in the William Hill Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden Park next month, with another league encounter assured before the end of the campaign.
Rodgers said: "The Celtic versus Rangers games I have been involved in so far have been fantastic games and, of course, we have played well in those three games and got a result.
"But we always anticipate a tough game and I am sure this one will be no different.''