Brendan Rodgers urges Celtic to fight until the end against Valencia in Europa League clash

Brendan Rodgers has told his players to be prepared to die with their boots on against Valencia.

Two-goals down to Valencia from the first leg in Glasgow, Celtic face a monumental task to turn this Europa League tie on its head.

Taking hope from the way his side started the game last week, Rodgers feels getting the first goal in the Mestalla will change the dynamic of the game.

Brendan Rodgers has urged Celtic to give their all when they take on Valencia

Readying himself for the possibility of an exit at the first knock-out round, though, the Celtic manager is adamant that the attitude of his players in that eventuality will still be hugely important.

Asked what his last words will be to his players, Rodgers said: ‘I’ll ask them if we have this shot at getting through, do they believe they can win? If they do, no matter how tentative it is, if it’s a yes – then let’s give it everything. Let’s fight, let’s tackle, let’s play.

‘If we are going to go out, let’s give it our best shot. That’s what the players do.’ 

Celtic have never won a competitive game in Spain and even a one-goal victory on Thursday night would not be enough to see them through on aggregate.

Rodgers welcomes Jozo Simunovic back into the fold against Valencia

Rodgers, who welcomes Jozo Simunovic back into the fold, believes the chance to create history should be all the incentive his players need.

‘It would,’ he added. ‘It’s a great challenge for us. I saw enough in the game last week in terms of we started the game well, we lost our way a wee bit after 25 minutes and we gave them confidence in the game and the first goal is obviously critical.

‘If you’re a team playing away from home and you get that first goal in the away stadium that really calms you down and it allows you to relax and play your football. And then obviously literally five minutes after half time we concede a second one and 2-0 sort of breaks our rhythm a bit and then they get comfort and it was disappointing for us then.

‘But I think we come into the game, like we’ve done over the past two and a half years, whenever we’ve had disappointing results or performances, or both, we’ve always tried to then respond and we did that at the weekend in a tough league game and we carry the confidence now to go again in this.

‘We accept the challenge, we know the perception will be that we’re out, but it’s never what drives me with the team. It’s always been that we have to find hope in relation to the games that we have and if we believe that we can do it, even if it’s a tentative belief, if it’s a yes you have to go for it.

Rodgers believes that Celtic have a chance of prevailing if they get the first goal

‘You have to play with energy and give everything and fight to the very end.. If we can get the first goal then who knows?’ 

Celtic reserved their best display of the group stage to defeat RB Leipzig in Glasgow but failed to follow that up against the Spaniards.

Insisting his players will be driven by a desire to right the sense of injustice they feel, Rodgers said: ‘I just think we recognise we didn’t play well enough. We made mistakes. I think we know you have to really concentrate.. These are some of the things we’ve shown over the last week or so in terms of our video with the players.

‘We’ve shown them where we were good in the game, the areas where we were good, sometimes that gets lost in the result.

‘But there were parts of the game, we started with real confidence and stability in the game, we had a little period of six or seven minutes where we gave the ball away cheaply and we learned you can’t do that at this level against good players who play well and can create. Ultimately it’s about concentration at this level.’