BRENDAN Rodgers last night predicted Scott Brown will attain legendary status at Celtic in future as his captain prepared to break the Scottish record for appearances in Europe’s premier competition held by Kenny Dalglish.
Brown will play in his 69th match in the Champions League in the Group B meeting with Belgian outfit Anderlecht at a packed Parkhead this evening.
The Celtic captain’s tally will be one more than Dalglish, who played 68 times in the old European Cup for Celtic and Liverpool in the 1970s and 1980s.
Rodgers, whose side will finish third in Group B and progress to the last 32 of the Europa League if they draw with or defeat their opponents tonight, believes Brown will be held in as high regard as Bobby Murdoch, Paul McStay and Henrik Larsson in years to come.
“He’s a wee bit daft at times, Browny, and a bit laughing and joking and taking the mickey out of himself,” he said. “But don’t underestimate what he is achieving and what he has done in the game. Whenever the time comes, and it won’t be for a few years yet, he will go down as one of the great legends of this club.
“He is in the moment. He is still creating the legend and he still has a lot to achieve here. Like us all, really, it’s when you’re gone and your time has passed, that’s when you get truly appreciated and I think that will be the case with him.”
Rodgers admitted he has taken enormous satisfaction from how Brown has resurrected his career since he took over as Celtic manager from Ronny Deila last summer.
“It’s really nice because I had enough people telling me when I came in here that his legs were gone and that he couldn’t run,” he said. “Now I see him in big European and domestic games and he’s the real tactical engine of the team. He really dictates how we play, he’s the brain of the team. He is an absolutely brilliant player and he’s a credit in how he captains the club. He’s a real, real joy to work with.”
The Northern Irishman compared Brown to Barcelona striker Luis Suarez, who he worked with at Liverpool, for the way he responds to abuse from the stands so positively.
“He’s like a pantomime villain when he goes on the pitch and that stirs people up,” he said. “Suarez was the same. The more you got after him, the better he was. You find that with the good players. Look at Scott Sinclair when he came on against Motherwell, he was bright.
“Every ground we went to with Suarez he got absolutely slaughtered and he’d then score hat-tricks or doubles. Browny has that same real belief in his own abilities. That edge that the really good players have, Browny has that and it doesn’t matter if it’s Ibrox or the Allianz Arena – he performs.
“He has a great attitude. It can stimulate something in the best players. He’s got a stare on him, Browny. He is an outstanding player, temperament-wise I have been really impressed by him.
“He is a player of dominance and in the big teams you need a number of those and he is certainly the player of dominance for us.”
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