Celtic boss pleased with draw against Astana

Brendan Rodgers praised the resilience of his Celtic players after they came from behind to grab a crucial 1-1 draw against Astana in Kazakhstan.

Defender Yuri Logvinenko headed the home side ahead from a corner in the 19th minute of the Champions League third qualifying round at the noisy Astana Arena and the Hoops had to withstand some heavy pressure.

But, in the 78th minute, striker Leigh Griffiths drilled in a shot from the edge of the box to stun the Kazakhstan champions, a fightback that pleased the former Liverpool manager no end ahead of the second leg next week.

Rodgers said: "It was an outstanding result for us. Collectively the mentality was the most pleasing thing.

"I think we were all written off before the game, everyone pretty clear in their opinion of the game, that we would do well to come back with anything other than a loss, but the players deserve an immense amount of credit, to fight and show spirit and passion in the game.

"The resilience and strength that we have built up over the course of the pre-season came into effect.

"I was disappointed with the goal, it is nothing new, but we showed a wonderful mentality to keep fighting and in the second half we restricted them to not so many clear chances and ended up scoring a fantastic goal.

"It is only half-time but (it is) a very important result for us."