Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Brendan Rodgers says Champions League thrashing of Astana is proof of Celtic’s progress

Celtic's Scott Sinclair celebrates his first goal (SNS Group / Craig Foy)
Celtic's Scott Sinclair celebrates his first goal (SNS Group / Craig Foy)

BRENDAN RODGERS believes Celtic’s progress over the last year was there for all to see in the 5-0 thrashing of Astana at Parkhead on Wednesday night.

The Hoops all but guaranteed themselves a place in the Champions League with a convincing first-leg win over the Kazakhstan champions.

Scotland’s treble-winners beat Astana in the third qualifier last year but needed a stoppage-time penalty from Moussa Dembele to win 2-1 and go through 3-2 aggregate.

Celtic’s Leigh Griffiths celebrates as he makes it 5-0 with a deflected shot (SNS Group)

However, this time there was no anxiety after returning midfielder Tom Rogic’s strike in the 31st minute was helped into his own net by defender Evgeni Postnikov.

Attacker Scott Sinclair notched a double, one either side of the break, winger James Forrest added a fourth and a drive from Leigh Griffiths took a deflection off Igor Shitov for number five and only a remarkable turnaround next Tuesday in Astana will see Celtic lose out on the reported £30million-plus riches from Champions League participation.

Rodgers, who took over from Ronny Deila last summer, said: “You look at the marked difference to when we won 2-1 last year.

“You see a clear difference, you see a maturity in the performance, an excitement, and a creation of chances.

“Tactically the players are thinking about football, not just going out and running about and hoping.

“They think about when we go in, when we are creative and also how we negate the strengths of the other team and that allows us to play the game to a better level with and without the ball.”

(Jeff Holmes/PA Wire)

Rodgers singled out midfielder Nir Bitton who again played at centre-half due to injury.

He said: “There were big questions asked about Nir Bitton, a lot of speculation.

“No one knows if he is good enough or not better than me.

“I wouldn’t play him if I didn’t think he was good enough .

“He makes less mistakes than many centre-halves that I see, who are actual centre-halves.

“I thought he was outstanding last night, defending, taking the ball to build and when he is pressed he has that ability to find a midfield player.

“So in this model he is absolutely perfect if needed, to play in that position.

“But the players deserve a huge amount of credit.”