Brendan Rodgers: Celtic will keep calm and carry on in Norway

That was the vow of Parkhead boss Brendan Rodgers who insists his ice cool players will hold their nerve against Rosenborg in what could be a defining night in the Hoops’ season.

A single goal would be enough to see the Scottish champions or their Norwegian counterparts through to the play-off round after last week’s 0-0 first leg in Glasgow.

Read more: Brendan Rodgers is facing his biggest test as Celtic boss - the cost of failure against Rosenborg will be high

And Rodgers has backed his Euro star boys to show a steady hand when they cross the white line at a packed and intimidating Lerkendal Stadium to stun their cocky hosts.

Speaking from the team hotel in Trondheim, he said: “We have to enjoy it and the pressure of planning to win. We don’t plan to disappoint, we plan to win.

“We come into a game where there is a wee bit at stake but we know we have the game to win, so we won’t worry about it.

“We won’t go into the battle and think about it night and day. We have to stay calm and we know as we play as a team we can get through.

“It is my job as the coach and the manager to install that into the players and to try and find a way.”

“You have to come into these games and feel that, if you can impose your game, you can work well. They are never easy.

Read more: Brendan Rodgers is facing his biggest test as Celtic boss - the cost of failure against Rosenborg will be high

“And you can never come away from the pressure. You can’t run behind a tree and say there is no pressure because there is.

“But how you regulate the pressure is important. And how you distribute that flow of pressure. That’s for me to worry about in the players that I send out to play.”

It can be hard to stay calm when there is so much riding on the outcome over 90 – or quite possibly 120 – minutes of football.

Last season Celtic enjoyed a glorious first campaign under Brendan Rodgers that was kickstarted by Champions League qualification. A domestic and unbeaten treble soon followed.

But it could have been so much different in the final play-off game in Israel where the Parkhead side were agonisingly close to bombing out of the competition to Hapoel Be’er Sheva.

Rodgers acknowledges the fine margins that were in play a year ago and will almost certainly be factored into this game here in Trondheim, but he remains unfazed.

Read more: Brendan Rodgers is facing his biggest test as Celtic boss - the cost of failure against Rosenborg will be high

“I’m not sure. I just think you have to think clearly,” said the Celtic manager. “Inside you can be like a tumble drier.

“In Be’er Sheva there was no calmness. It was a test. My heartbeat was in my head that night.

“That night we couldn’t pass it - we just tried everything in that game. But that’s an example of nervousness from a team which, naturally, hasn’t qualified for a time, trying to find a new way of working.

“But there’s night and day difference now. The best way to cope with it is have the ball, press hard, be aggressive and just do your best.

“We all know the consequence if we don’t. We want to win, but we will do it as a process.”

When asked if this felt like a cup final for the Scottish champions, Rodgers added: “Yes, so it’s controlling that side of it, but every game has that technical and tactical element.

“Don’t get me wrong, you can be very bad technically and very bad tactically, but still win. I always think in these types of games, you are never going to be at the top of your game. You can’t be. It’s that stage of the season.

“You see the flow of the team as the season goes on, the rhythm gets better, the fitness gets better. So it’s finding a way.”