BRENDAN Rodgers reckons Celtic players can learn from example of their final-day Champions League home defeat to Anderlecht last season as they chase the point against FC Salzburg which will see them book a place in the last 32 of the Europa League. While the Parkhead side ultimately finished third in Champions League Group B, dropping into the continent’s secondary competition only to crash out to Zenit St Petersburg, they appeared hesitant and nervous against the Belgian side in a match where they knew they only needed to avoid a three-goal defeat to go through. A draw will be enough for the Parkhead side to return to that stage after Christmas this season but Rodgers is adamant that his side will play for the win.

“We know it’s a tough test for us,” said Rodgers. “But with everything and knowing we need a result it’s not workable to play for a draw. That doesn’t happen in football. You go out to win and see how the game evolves and take it from there.

“We play a game to not concede a goal, be aggressive and this is a similar idea,” he added. “There might come a point in a game, with five or 10 minutes to go, where it’s slightly different.

“But it should be an incredible atmosphere, the wall of noise that comes from the stadium. The Salzburg guys, some of them won’t have experienced it before and for us it’s a great energy for our team and how we play. So we’ll look to get the job done.

“It depends on the other team as well. They [Anderlecht] came last season and had nothing to play for, really, so they could relax themselves a wee bit. Salzburg could think that way as well, so they could actually play with more freedom knowing that they are qualified. I can’t control that.

What I can control is how we play. And we arrive in to the game with confidence and belief and we have to keep rolling that out, and hopefully get the job done, which would be a fantastic achievement for us, given the level of team in the group.”

Celtic have never qualified from a continental group at the expense of a team from one of the top leagues in Europe so doing so at the expense of RB Leipzig would be quite a feather in their cap.

“It has never been done because it is so difficult to do,” said Rodgers. “You look at the power of Leipzig and where they sit in their league and look at Salzburg with the power that whole Red Bull organisation have, we’ve put ourselves in a really good position. You only want it to be in your hands, it is in our hands and we want to grab that.”

Meanwhile, it was confirmed yesterday that the Parkhead side would indeed be taking up their reduced allocation of 750 tickets for the Old Firm match against Rangers on Saturday, December 29. Chief executive Peter Lawwell had cast doubt over that prospect at the club’s AGM if the Ibrox club couldn’t guarantee the security of the travelling support but the tickets will be distributed as usual.

“Following the decision to reduce Celtic’s ticket allocation at Ibrox Stadium for our match on December 29, 2018, we can confirm that the 750 tickets received by Celtic will be distributed through the usual allocation process.

“All relevant information for this match regarding ticket distribution will be available shortly on www.celtifc.net.”