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Rodgers tells Celtic to be brave in search of rare Champions League win / Photo: © AFP
Rodgers tells Celtic to be brave in search of rare Champions League win
Brendan Rodgers has urged Celtic to be brave as the Scottish side bid to end their 10-year wait for a Champions League group stage win at Parkhead.
Celtic have not claimed three points from a Champions League home game since a 2-1 win over Ajax on October 2013 when Neil Lennon was in charge of the Glasgow club.
The Hoops then lost at home to Milan that season and have gone three more group campaigns without a win in front of their own supporters ahead of Wednesday's visit from Lazio.
Beaten 2-0 at Feyenoord in their opening Group E game, Scottish champions Celtic desperately need a victory over the Italian side to kick-start their attempt to qualify for the last 16.
"Obviously a decade is a long time, but I think it demonstrates the level. It's a competition that is the very elite and even teams that roll up here where people say 'they are not in great form', they always have quality and quality that can hurt you," Rodgers told reporters on Tuesday.
"But we have the bravery to go and play our performance and play our game and with the supporters together giving that extra push, then why can't it be the first win?
"That's our mentality. We are all ready for it, the players, the supporters will be ready for it, they always are, and hopefully we can have a good night.
"As long as we give our best and play with that belief and quality and speed in the game that we want to see, then we can be in with a really good chance."
Celtic have lost to Barcelona, Borussia Monchengladbach, Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, Anderlecht, Real Madrid and RB Leipzig during their 10-game run without a win.
They drew with Shakhtar Donetsk last season and also had a memorable 3-3 draw with Pep Guardiola's Manchester City in Rodgers' first Champions League group game in his first spell as Celtic manager seven years ago.
"It's a game that will stay in my memory forever, just from the atmosphere and obviously Man City had arrived. It was Pep's first season, they had won 10 games in a row," Rodgers said.
"The first memory of that was special and even though we never had the results in some of the other games, you sense in the build-up and the whole event that they are really, really great games to be involved in."
P. O'Kelly--BTZ
