BRENDAN Rodgers last night singled out his Kristoffer Ajer and Jack Hendry for praise after the young centre backs helped Celtic grind out a gritty 0-0 with Rosenborg to got through to the Champions League third qualifying round.

The Scottish champions, leading 3-1 from the first leg in Glasgow last week, endured a difficult evening against their Norwegian counterparts in the Lerkendal Stadium.

But Ajer and Hendry rose to the occasion magnificently and Craig Gordon pulled off some important saves to ensure the Parkhead club kept a clean sheet and progressed to a double header against AEK Athens of Greece.

Read more: Five things we learned as Celtic beat Rosenborg to set up AEK Athens test​

Rodgers was delighted at how the duo, who are just 20 and 23 respectively, performed together in the absence of Dedryck Boyata and Jozo Simunovic away from home in Europe.

“In the last 20 minutes we had to deal with a lot of direct balls into the box and I was very pleased with our two young centre halves," he said. "They both stood up to everything asked of them.

“I felt Jack Hendry in the second half was excellent. He won some great headers and was really dominant. Kris Ajer too was very impressive. We also had Cristian Gamboa in the side and I thought he did very well too.

"Overall the mentality of the team stood out for me. Really we won the tie last week with an attacking performance and tonight it was about how we defended, being solid and keeping a clean sheet.”

Rodgers added: “We have achieved our objective. This was a different type of game to last week. I thought Rosenborg played very well in the first-half knowing they needed to come out and take the initiative. We couldn’t quite build the game as well as we’d have liked.

“But I was very pleased with how we defended – it was great resilience and mentality out there. We changed things slightly in the second half to gain more control and I felt we took the sting out of the game. We played to our tempo a little but more.

Read more: Five things we learned as Celtic beat Rosenborg to set up AEK Athens test​

“Tonight was a great demonstration that you cannot always play perfect football, especially away in Europe. When you are under pressure there are questions asked of you. So it was a clean sheet which is always great at this level. We matched Rosenborg’s physicality too."

Asked if he would have a difficult decision to make about who to play at centre half against AEK Athens at Parkhead on Wednesday night, when Boyata and Simunovic will both be available, Rodgers said: “It is just going to be great having those players available. It is a real challenge at this stage of the season so getting those guys back will be very important for us.

"They are both fantastic players and with Dedryck coming off the back of a good World Cup he is full of confidence. It will be great to have him back.

"But tonight is about the guys who have done the job for us over two legs against a good side. In this round, the next round and hopefully the next round after that, the level of opposition is going to be strong. We have beaten a good side.”

“I haven’t watched AEK Athens yet. I don’t tend to count my chickens. But we have got through. They will be a good side I am sure, but we are also a good side as well and I hope to show that in the first leg next week.”