HAVING worked with Brendan Rodgers during his time as a player with English giants Liverpool, Club Brugge goalkeeper Simon Mignolet knows the Celtic manager and how he wants his teams to play well.

So the former Belgian internationalist was unsurprised at how the Scottish champions reacted when they were toiling in the first half of the Champions League league phase match at Parkhead last night.

The hosts performed poorly during the opening 45 minutes and fell behind when Cameron Carter-Vickers passed the ball into his own net – but they fought back after half-time and earned a draw and a point thanks to a superb Daizen Maeda equaliser. 

The man who Rodgers signed for £9m when he was in charge at Anfield feels the way the Glasgow club continued to play football and refused to go direct showed the influence of his old coach and underlined why they have excelled in Europe this season.

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“Celtic were better in the second half together with the support of the fans,” said Mignolet. “We didn’t come out of the pressure enough in the second half, which we could have done.

“Although we had some chances on the counter attack, Kasper [Celtic goalkeeper Schmeichel] made a good save and we had a goal disallowed, Celtic had the better part of the game in the second half. In the end, it was a fair result for both teams.”

Asked about Rodgers’ style of play, he said: “I think you can see it in the team – Celtic keep on playing football. He always wants his team to play from the back, to have the ball in possession, and you saw that throughout the whole game.

“They didn’t play one long ball in the whole game. That is probably why they came back in the second half. We were pushed back towards our own box and couldn’t come out of the pressure any more although we had those chances on the counter attack. That is due to his football philosophy.”

(Image: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire) Mignolet, who received a Champions League winner’s medal when Liverpool beat Spurs in the final in Madrid in 2019, is optimistic that Brugge and Celtic, who are in 20th and 23rd in the league phase table respectively after last night, can both finish in the top 24 and reach the knockout rounds play-offs. 

“Well, I hope so!” he said. “Especially Brugge of course. For us, it was a really important game. If we had won we would have had nine points and that would have been a massive step towards the play-off rounds.

“It was the same for Celtic. What you saw in the game was both teams wanted to win and both teams had a chance to win. But in the end I think 1-1 is a fair result.

“We have matched every single team so far in the Champions League, Borussia Dortmund, Aston Villa, AC Milan and Celtic. I haven’t seen the Celtic games in detail, but what I have seen is a team that wants to play football and a team that wants to win in the Champions League, us as well.”  

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Meanwhile, Mignolet has predicted that Arne Engels, the Belgian internationalist who joined Celtic in a club record £11m transfer from Augsburg back in August, will enjoy a successful time at Parkhead and justify his transfer fee.

The 21-year-old midfielder failed to make a significant impact in the match against his former club and was replaced by Paulo Bernardo during the second-half.

His lacklustre display was criticised by former Celtic centre-half Johan Mjallby, who was working at the game as a pundit for host broadcaster TNT Sports.

But his countryman said: “I had him in a fair few training sessions at Brugge and you could see he had a really good right foot. He has shown in every single game that he has played here that he can have a really good future, not only with Celtic but also with Belgium. So I hope for him that he keeps playing like that. Luckily, he didn’t score.”