Brendan Rodgers admitted it was a special moment as he took charge of his boyhood heroes Celtic for the first time.

After being appointed back in May the former Liverpool boss finally took to charge of the Glasgow giants last night as his Bhoys battled back from 2-0 down against Slovenian side Celje to salvage a draw.

A handful of faithful Celtic followers made the trek to watch the momentous occasion, and Rodgers couldn’t help but savour his debut in the Hoops dugout.

“It was really nice to see the boys pulling on the kit for the first time, getting back in the changing room and on to the pitch.

Read more: Celje 2 Celtic 2: Brendan Rodgers revolution officially underway

“As a manager you look to see that relationship you’ve worked on in training in a game.Glasgow Times: 28/06/16  
 CELTIC TRAINING 
 SLOVENIA 
 Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers

“We need to develop our football fitness but there was some positives with the young players who came in. They showed they have the nerve to play.

“Yeah I thought it was excellent. We are obviously just a week or so into it, so to get the game this early doesn’t normally happen. But I thought our application was very good.

“Second half was better than the first because it was a quicker game. We pressed much better and showed a good mentality even though it’s a pre season game.”

Rodgers fielded a different team in both halves at the Arena Petrol as he looks to protect his new squad while giving them all an opportunity to impress.

Arguably the team in the second half did the better job, with Nadir Ciftci at the heart of it.

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The striker got the first goal to kickstart Celtic’s comeback in the sweltering Slovenia heat before Tom Rogic added a second, and Rodgers declared himself impressed with the Turk’s efforts.

“I thought he was excellent. He has worked very hard in training and has taken on board that the striker needs to be able to press and work how we want him to play.

“We saw that, he was pressing the centre-half and the goalkeeper. He got in a good position to score. He held the ball up really well, so I thought he was excellent.

“I need to assess him. I’ve seen a lot of players for the first time but I had seen him as a young player.Glasgow Times: 29/06/16   .  CELTIC TRAINING .  SLOVENIA .  Celtic Brendan Rodgers.

“I remember him at Portsmouth when he was really young against my son who was at Chelsea, and he was a talent then.

“He was mobile, if we can get that mobility back into his game he’s got a good idea for football. He has talent.

“He’s worked very hard and it’s good for him to get the goal.”

Next up for the Parkhead club is a trip to Austria on Sunday when they will face Sturm Gratz.

Rodgers has admitted he is likely to stick with the two-team system that served him well in Celje, and revealed captain Scott Brown is likely to return to the team after missing out last night due to a tight hamstring.

He added: “We’ll probably play two teams again in the next game then change it. It’s stops the risk of injury and the game stopping and starting.”