Brendan Rodgers has refused to get drawn into discussions about next season’s Champions League qualifiers, despite Celtic holding a commanding 13-point lead over Rangers in the Scottish Premiership.
The Hoops have been superb this season after they opened an early lead on their Glasgow rivals, and for much of the season, it looked like Aberdeen could be Celtic’s closest competitor at the top of the table.
With Scotland’s automatic Champions League league stage spot lost, the SPFL winners will now have to negotiate a play-off round to reach the competition. However, while planning for European football is already underway behind the scenes, Rodgers is firmly focused on finishing the domestic campaign first.
When asked about the prospect of qualifiers, the Celtic boss made it clear that nothing has been won yet:
“Listen, I don’t want to start talking about qualifiers for the Champions League when I’m not a champion yet.”
“We’ve got a lot of work to do in the league. We’ve got the games that we have left, so we have to finish the season strong. But Champions League, Europa League, whatever, the plans are well underway and a lot of work is going on to improve our squad.”
Rodgers’ measured response shows his experience—while Celtic are in a dominant position, he knows the job isn’t finished.
It means that we should get a motivated Celtic side firing on all cylinders as they play the last part of the season. Afterall, there is still a treble to play for.
However, with the league title within touching distance, all signs point toward another summer of strengthening as the club looks to build on their European progress this season.
