There is a football hill I am willing to die on.

Brendan Rodgers is an elite-level manager. There I've said it.

If the Celtic hierarchy is smart they will have already opened up new contract discussions with Rodgers. He is two years into his three-year managerial tenure in his second spell at Celtic. The Celtic supporters should want him to hang around for as long as he is capable of doing the job.

A new contract for Rodgers should be occupying issues one, two and three on any internal agenda. It is paramount that Rodgers signs a new deal to coincide with the ushering in of a new era at Celtic. One where the club competes on both the domestic and European fronts. In his own words, Rodgers admitted that Celtic's 3-1 Champions League league phase win over RB Leipzig on Wednesday night at Parkhead was his 'most significant' European result yet as manager in his two spells at the helm.

He's right. Rodgers said: "In terms of the level of opponent. It wasn't just the result but the performance as well. We played the game with great charisma and confidence and showed courage in our pressing. To play to that level and we have had some really good results but that would definitely be the best one."

Rodgers doesn't do smug. However, if there was one member of the Celtic family who may be entitled to be smug - it is Rodgers. After all he was subjected to ferocious criticism in the aftermath of the 7-1 destruction by Borussia Dortmund. He was told that he should be more pragmatic. Rodgers did his best Frank Sinatra impersonation as he took the mic despite the flak and boldly stated that he'd continue to do it 'My Way'.

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Many thought the end was near as Celtic then faced last season's Europa League winners Atalanta in Bergamo and then Marco Rose's RB Leipzig at home in back-to-back fixtures on Matchday Three and Four with some even lining up to signal the death knell for Rodgers' side's Champions League campaign for another year.

Rodgers and his men have gone on to produce two stunning performances playing two entirely different types of football on both occasions. Quelle surprise - they have both yielded results. So much so that the Celtic supporters now find themselves in dreamland after amassing seven points from four Champions League matches. All of sudden the so-called Dortmund 'duds' are staring down the barrel of gaining a place in the top eight and qualifying automatically for the last 16 without the need for a playoff. That would be an achievement of seismic and miraculous proportions.

There's a humility about Rodgers and he will never get carried away on the back of one result. Whilst the win against RB Leipzig was achieved with a wonderful performance the manager was also at pains and quick to point out that nothing has been achieved...yet!. Against RB Leipzig Rodgers masterminded both a result and performance to match. To marry both together against top-notch opposition at the elite club level as the Celtic manager is almost unprecedented. The Martin O'Neill years apart it is almost certainly unprecedented in the Champions League era for Celtic.

Rodgers got his tactics bang on. The same tactics that went awry in the Signal Park Iduna Stadium. He spelt out what his team were going to do the day before. Celtic needed to be 'educated in their pressures'. Somehow the Irishman and his players produced a near-perfect performance.

Celtic were aggressive in their counter-pressing all over the pitch whilst being defensively solid. The 51-year-old had felt let down by Celtic pressing game in Germany against Dortmund. He made sure that the high press tactic would serve them well against this particular German opponent. RB Leipzig got frustrated and simply ran out of ideas as Celtic bludgeoned the second-best team in the Bundesliga into submission. It was an astonishing triumph for Celtic and their players. It was a resounding success for their elite-level manager.

This is why Rodgers came back to Celtic in the first place. For special European nights like Tuesday against RB Leipzig. He wanted to be the man to restore the club's fallen honour, pride and prestige on the European stage.

Celtic were the toast of European football on Tuesday night. That will have pleased Rodgers no end. So too will the fact that Celtic have now recorded three Champions League wins on the spin at Parkhead. Pundits and critics alike are now talking about Rodgers' team for all the right reasons. Not because they had been hammered or created some sort of goals concession record. No, it was because Celtic had claimed a notable Champions League scalp of repute in the shape of RB Leipzig.

Rodgers also spoke of a mature Celtic performance.

Ball retention - check.

Bravery - check.

Game management - check.

(Image: Agency) Rodgers told everybody who cared to listen after Dortmund that Celtic would learn, grow and develop in this competition. Four points from games against Atalanta away and RB Leipzig at home is all the proof required of a team that is learning, growing and developing under their manager. Rodgers is progressing his Celtic team to the fabled 'next level'. That alone is worth an extended deal so he can see through what he has started.

It was Rodgers' dream display in this arena. It vindicated his 'My Way' policy. Rodgers is building something in Glasgow's east end. That's why the smart money should be on the board finding the funds to offer a new deal to the best asset the club has at its disposal right now - the manager.

The progression and development in Rodgers' Celtic team has been nothing short of extraordinary. There is evidence to suggest that he has improved every member of the personnel he has at his disposal. Just ask two-goal hero Nicolas Kuhn his thoughts on his manager and even then Rodgers singled out the German winger's pressing levels as not being at the standard required at times. It's tough being a perfectionist.

That's the problem with elite-level coaches they demand the best from their players in every match no matter the opposition. Celtic were almost pitch-perfect against RB Leipzig. Not since the Martin O'Neill era has the club sent a European heavyweight home with their tails between their legs with 'nil points' knowing they had been soundly beaten.

However, what the events of Tuesday night in Glasgow's east end did prove once and for all, is that by playing the Rodgers way, Celtic can yield results and be successful at the highest level of football. The elite level. Where elite-level managers operate. Funny that, isn't it? Rodgers, the playing staff and the Celtic family will always have just cause to remember, remember the 5th of November 2024. It's the night Rodgers' Celtic finally came of age in the Champions League.

Did I tell you that there is a football hill I am willing to die on? For those who continue to write off Rodgers, do so at your own peril. He has an uncanny knack for continually leaving the doubters scraping copious amounts of egg from their faces.

Rodgers is an elite-level football manager. Those who say otherwise and doubt those credentials will continue to be made to look stupid.