Brendan Rodgers finding it ‘hard to fathom’ how one Celtic fan risks blanket ban

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers found it “hard to fathom” why one fan has risked the prospect of “genuine supporters” being able to attend the Champions League encounter with Bayern Munich.

The Scottish champions were hit with a UEFA disciplinary notice that could trigger an automatic ban on away fans being present in the Allianz Arena for the second leg of the knockout round play-off tie on February 18-19.

Celtic were on a suspended ban following a series of fines over the use of pyrotechnics before a supporter appeared to throw a green smoke cannister onto the pitch in Wednesday’s 4-2 defeat at Aston Villa.

The club vowed to make “robust representations” to allow fans to attend but warned there was a risk of a ban being enforced.

“I’d be bitterly disappointed for every genuine Celtic supporter,” Rodgers said. “Clearly, that’s not decided yet, but it’s serious enough for the club to put that statement out.

“For those Celtic supporters that genuinely bond with their club and their team and have travelled near and far over many, many years, to even be at the risk of not going tells you the culmination of events that have taken us to that point.

“We would never want to get to a point where we go into a game of such magnitude and we can’t take our support base. I would hope it wouldn’t, but if it takes something like that, then it has to change.

“The football club, we can’t keep paying hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of fines because in the main, Celtic is what they are because of the supporters, those genuine supporters that bond with the club.

“I was looking at the game the other night, we’re 2-0 behind, we show an amazing mentality and spirit to come back into the game.

“We get to 2-1, we’re ready to go again to start and then the smoke bomb comes onto the pitch and we then have to wait for that to take place.

“So from a football perspective, you’re losing rhythm, you’re losing that moment even though we went on and scored early again afterwards. There’s a safety issue as well, clearly, for people in the stands. I just find it hard to fathom.”

Celtic had already qualified for the knockout stages before the trip to Birmingham and the result ensured they would face either Real Madrid or Bayern, two of the seeded teams in the draw.

Rodgers joked: “We got the easier one, didn’t we? Listen, it’s brilliant. We’ve earnt to get to the play-off stage. The players have been outstanding over the eight games and that qualifies us to play one of these top teams.

“There’s no doubt that the team have progressed over the course of the competition.”

Rodgers will now turn his attention to Sunday’s William Hill Premiership clash at Motherwell and the end of the transfer window on Monday night.

A deal to bring in pre-contract signing Kieran Tierney on an immediate basis is looking unlikely but the departures of left-back Alex Valle and striker Kyogo Furuhashi have created obvious vacancies, while Rodgers confirmed that winger Luis Palma was expected to leave.

“We’re hopeful of improving the squad,” Rodgers said. “I think that is key for us. The players have gone out. We want to keep the strength in the squad. We’ve brought in a few.

“We’ve brought in Jota, who we’re really happy with. He had a great period here and now he’s got a chance to build on that legacy.

“He’s a little bit behind in terms of his fitness and football fitness, I would say. But he’s a fantastic addition for us so hopefully we can add a few more.”