Celtic make history in Champions League as Rodgers’ record examined

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5-1 win over Bratislava 

It was a historic night for Celtic in the Champions League as they recorded a 5-1 win over Slovan Bratislava in Glasgow. The Scottish champions got their European campaign underway in style with their biggest ever win in the history of the competition. Liam Scales, Kyogo, Arne Engels, Daizen Maeda and Adam Idah were on the scoresheet as Celtic picked up an invaluable three points in their quest to reach the knockout stages. 

It was also the first time in Champions League history that Celtic have won on the opening night and it will instil confidence ahead of a tricky trip to last year’s beaten finalists Borussia Dortmund in a fortnight. Celtic have been dominant domestically for the last decade in Scotland but they’ve been unable to replicate that form on the European stage. But with a favourable draw, Celtic will be aiming to reach the knockout stages for the first time since the 2012/13 season. 

Celtic record biggest ever Champions League win 

The 5-1 rout of Bratislava represented Celtic’s biggest ever Champions League victory and Brendan Rodgers will hope it sets a marker for their remaining seven games. It was only the sixth time in the competitions history – not including qualifiers – that Celtic have won by a two-goal margin or more and it was comfortably their biggest win. 

 As the graphic above illustrates, Celtic’s previous biggest wins were by a three-goal margin against Anderlecht in 2017 in Belgium and the same scoreline at home to Benfica during the 2006/07 campaign. The Scottish giants had also defeated Anderlecht, Villareal and Lyon by a two-goal margin in the Champions League. 

Brendan Rodgers Champions League record 

The win over Bratislava was just Rodgers’ fifth win in the Champions League in his 25th game in the competition – not including qualifiers. The Northern Irish manager has won the Scottish Premiership title in every season at Celtic but his record in Europe’s premier club competition hasn’t been good.

Rodgers has managed Liverpool and Celtic in the competition but only picked up 1 win from six games with the English side during the 2014/15 season. Rodgers’ record win Celtic stands at three wins, four draws and 12 defeats in 19 games with his points per game record of 0.68.