Rodgers urges Celtic bravery as Kane misses Bayern training

Champions League play-off, second leg: Bayern Munich v Celtic (2-1)

Where: Allianz Arena, Munich When: Tuesday 18 March Kick-off: 20: 00 GMT

Brendan Rodgers wants Celtic to win the Champions League match against Bayern Munich without looking back.

The manager acknowledges that a performance of the highest caliber will be necessary in Tuesday’s second leg at the Allianz Arena but says that it is a challenge he and his players “want to accept.”

“There’s no second chance”, said Rodgers. “We’ve got to be clever, bright and brave and if we can do that, history has shown that in sport anything can happen.

You have to play fearlessly until you reach this level. There’s worse things in life than losing a game of football so we want to ensure when we come in after the game, if we don’t go through, we’ve given it absolutely everything. “

Bayern, tournament winners on six occasions, are unbeaten in their past 20 Champions League home matches.

Celtic have won four of their previous five meetings while the Bundesliga leaders have never lost, despite having only 15 attempts to win once in Germany.

However, Rodgers is ecstatic about a strong performance in Glasgow, where Michael Olise and Harry Kane scored for his side and resulted in a goal being pulled back.

” I’m so happy I have this group of players with incredible mentality and professionalism, “added Rodgers”. We are in with a chance if they demonstrate that.

“We were beaten by the better team,” as long as you can take that opportunity to show your best. If you don’t, you’ll just arrive too late, which is regrettable.

We’ve demonstrated that punishing a team when we can play at the top of our game is when we can play at the very best.

“We’ve done a lot of good, and we’re going to play top-notch teams when we’re ready.” This is a team that has world-class players. For us it’ll be about our collective.

Kane, a star for Bayern Munich, sat out of Monday’s training session, but head coach Vincent Kompany claimed the striker’s facial injury was “not very bad.”

The England captain, who has 29 goals for the season, took a knock in Saturday’s goalless draw at Bayer Leverkusen, although he lasted the whole match.

” It’s nothing really serious but we have not had much time to recover, “explained Kompany”. We’ll see how he feels tomorrow morning, but I don’t believe it to be all that bad.

Both Joao Palhinha and Alphonso Davies were unable to play in the first game, so neither are expected to make it on time for the hosts. However, central defender Kim Min-jae is likely to be back after playing over the weekend.

Rodgers claimed that Celtic have a full squad, with Jota saying he is fit enough to start and that it has been discussed before about bringing in fellow winger Maeda in a central role.

Liam McLeod, BBC Sport Scotland match commentator

In recent Champions League matches, Bayern have had some issues on the road. Before defeating Celtic, they only had one victory out of seven.

Since losing 3-2 to a Paris Saint Germain-inspired Kylian Mbappe team in April 2021, this competition has been a different story at home.

Their only home defeat in the Champions League in almost six years comes from that defeat.

Following their draw against title rivals Bayer Leverkusen, Vincent Kompany’s team finished second best for much of the game against the champions of last season, who also happened to be the only team to win at the Allianz Arena this year.

However, when the draw is scheduled for Friday, they are eight points clear and are the heavy favorites to place in the last 16 with Leverkusen or Atletico Madrid.

Bayern are under pressure to reach the final because of its host city, Munich.