Brendan Rodgers insists Celtic's Champions League campaign starts for real against Manchester City

That’s the message Brendan Rodgers has given to his players as they prepare to put their nightmare in Barcelona behind them and look ahead to the, cough, easier task of taking something from a Manchester City side that have yet to experience a misplaced step under Pep Guardiola.

Rodgers didn't say it was going to get any easier. He merely suggested it was about to get better.

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Celtic’s manager was full of the joys as he addressed the written press at Celtic Park. If he wasn’t the most relaxed man in the room then the Irishman is some actor.

What was it Chris Sutton said about the first match in the Nou Camp? A “freebie” is how he described that game and while Rodgers would never have said it, this is more or less how he would have felt.

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And if he didn’t before the game, he changed his mind when Lionel Messi scored within the first couple of minutes to begin what ended in a rout.

So this is now a chance for his team to show Europe they are better, a lot better, than they showed two weeks ago.

Not many give the Scottish Champions much of a chance; however, there was something about the way Rodgers spoke which suggested – at least to this observer – that he backs his players to at the very least give the superstar of City a game.

“When you go to Barcelona and experience what we did, it was obviously difficult for the players with the level of opponent they faced,” admitted Rodgers. “But I think now there is a realisation that we are actually in the tournament. We are in the group stage and we have earned the right to be here.

“They can reflect on that performance in Barcelona, but now this is where it starts. We are in it and belief has been growing. The team are improving and on Wednesday night we want to try and impose our way of working on the game.

“You don’t just write off the night in Barcelona. It’s a great learning process. On the night, it’s not so nice when you go through that.

“You have to learn from it and this is the process, not only for this club and team, but hopefully for Scottish football over the next few years. You have to get those experiences.

“We come from a domestic level which is tough, but European level is completely different. Until you are in it and experience it, only then will you improve.

“This is another great game to learn from, irrespective of the result. I’m not saying we are not going out to win the game, that they are only learning games. We might go two games without picking up points.

"We will do our very best, that’s all we can do."

So how do you stop Manchester City? Nobody either in England or Europe have worked that out as of yet. This shows just how tough a night could be for Celtic.

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One thing the team will do, which they failed to in the Nou Camp, is be more aggressive.

Only Scott Brown got stuck in in the last game, and sometimes there is nothing wrong with a bit of sticking in, and if the players stand-off City then they won’t much be asking for trouble, more inviting said trouble into their house and allowing it to go to town on the drinks cabinet

To put it another way, allow City to play as they can and it could get messy.

Rodgers said: “Stopping them is difficult, of course. Our game is based about aggression, the intensity with which we play. We know City are one of the leading teams in Europe but somehow you have to try and find a way.

“There are many factors within it. You have to be aggressive in your pressing, you have to be educated in your pressure because you are not collectively pressing together.

“You can get picked off, so it’s about pressing at the right time. It’s about being compact at the right times. It’s about taking your chances when they come. It’s about a bit of luck along the way as well.

“You are always hoping your goalkeeper can have a good night in big games. So there are many factors in getting a good result.”

Those who don’t follow Celtic, or have never been to a European game at Parkhead, do wonder why so many go on about the special nights at the stadium under the floodlights.

But the thing is the home crowd often do play a huge part, the evidence for this sits in the history books, and Rodgers wants more of that tonight.

He said: “The qualifiers were great, I have to say, the atmosphere here in all three games especially the final qualification game was absolutely incredible.

“I think for people who maybe haven’t been to the stadium for a game, it’s a different roar. It’s a different noise that comes out of here. I’m really looking forward to it, the whole spectacle and the game itself.

“We want to win. It’s not just about performing and learning, we want to win the game. It’s the learning afterwards, that’s what I’m talking about. Otherwise there’s no point in us turning up.

“But to be here and to put a fight on, to get a result, that’s what it’s about. For us it’s the passion of the crowd and the passion of the team and our players getting the opportunity to pay against a top side. That will help us.

“City are on a great run and it will end at some point, and why not us being the ones to end it? That has to be the attitude.”