Everything that Brendan Rodgers said to TNT Sports after Celtic's 2-2 Champions League draw with Atletico Madrid
You spoke about the quality of the side you were facing in this one and it showed tonight. Does it feel that you are beginning to see development given that you took a point tonight?
I would rather talk about the quality of my team. I thought they were absolutely superb in the game and we scored two outstanding goals in the first 45 minutes against a top team. We were great. They have big quality but I think my players kept fighting and they kept going right to the very end and like I say it was a brilliant performance. To play to that level against an outstanding side shows the growth of the team.
Was part of the game plan tonight to make sure the intensity and energy was there from the start? We saw that with Kyogo's goal in the fourth minute which is one of the quickest goals in the Champions League this season.
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We aim to do that in every game. We want to impose our style and our mentality on to the team. I thought everything from our defending where we were very much together and it was fantastic. The pressure, the pressing, we showed immense courage to take the ball and pass the ball at speed and open up what is a very difficult team to open up. We did everything that you would want to see within the game.
When it was 2-2 you made a change when you brought Nat Phillips on. What was the thinking behind that and did you feel it was your game to take at that point?
It was something I thought about before the game and I could see at that point that our backline was getting stretched because of the way they move the ball and they moved it from side to side very well. I felt that we were starting to feel fatigued a little bit in the game because of the speed of the game as it is not what we were used to. So I just switched to a 3-5-2 and had the extra body up front to put pressure on them as well as to help us defend when they stretched the line.
When it came towards the end of the match and you are looking at development and could Celtic win the game. Are you thinking a point from this one after Feyenoord winning tonight what does this potentially do looking ahead after Christmas?
I'm not really thinking about that. We've got a point. It's a very good point in the game and we'll take that into our next game.
Are you thinking about the development of Celtic within this league?
I think the team and the performance is what I am interested in. This is a tough group for us but we have taken our first point in the group and we feel that we should have more points but my focus is on the performance. I thought the performance was outstanding.
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