Celtic at the Como Cup: “We didn’t dominate last year,” Brendan Rodgers

As Celtic arrived in Italy for the inaugural edition of the Como Cup, Brendan Rodgers admitted the club’s transfer business is far from complete…
The winners of this evening’s second semi-final between Celtic and Ajax will face the hosts in Sunday’s final. Como defeated Saudi Pro League side Al Ahli 3-1 last night.

In the Hoops’ five pre-season matches so far, they have secured victories against Queens Park, Cork City, Sporting Lisbon and most recently Newcastle United. Rodgers’ men will be aiming to make it two wins from two in I Lariani and pick up their third pre-season trophy. A Treble in July awaits!

Speaking at yesterday’s media conference, the Celtic boss said via Celtic TV: “Pre-season is designed to develop your football fitness, but I say it to the players, when you’re a big club like Celtic, there’s never a friendly; they are always tests for you.”

“We didn’t dominate last year; we won two out of three trophies,” said Rodgers. “So we believe we can be even better this season on the domestic front.”

“Last season we scored the most goals in over 50 years. We create lots of opportunities but you can always improve. It’s about reinforcing a lot of the good work that we already do, whilst tweaking elements in order to attack even more, because that is the soul of Celtic, it’s attacking football.”

Even though a clash with Como would depend on Celtic winning tonight, Rodgers lavished praise on Nicolas Kuhn, whose move to the Italian club reportedly cost an initial £16.5 million.

“Nicolas will be a really exciting talent,” said Rodgers. “When we saw him playing for Rapid Vienna, straight away his speed, his ability with the ball and his ability to score goals really stood out. When we took him to Celtic, all those qualities shone through. He was also playing in a very, very good team at Celtic.”

“For a player to shine, you want him to be in a good team and with Callum [McGregor] and his teammates, they really helped improve him as a player. When you play for such a big club like Celtic, you become a winner.”

Despite Kuhn’s departure, the club have added six players during the summer window – among them the returning Kieran Tierney and Benjamin Nygren from Danish outfit FC Nordsjaelland – yet Rodgers maintains their transfer dealings are not finished.

“We still have some work to do,” the Irishman said. “I think the players that we have in the building have been very, very good in this pre-season so far. But like I say, we still have work to do in the market.”

“I think it’s very clear where our gaps are – in our front line, where we need support. I’m very confident that we’ll be able to do that before the market finishes.”