KRISTOFFER AJER has reassured Brendan Rodgers he can cope with the pressure of facing Zenit St Petersburg at Parkhead on Thursday night.
The Norwegian defender is eager to get involved in Celtic’s crucial Europa League last-32 confrontation with the Russians.
Ajer, who played alongside Jozo Simunovic in the 3-2 Scottish Cup win over Partick Thistle at the weekend, revealed he watched the game back immediately afterwards in a bid to learn from his mistakes.
The converted centre-half said: “I think the gaffer has a squad here that really knows their job. Everyone is ready when they’re called upon. If I get the chance on Thursday I will be ready.
“I feel when I play for Celtic, I’m 100 per cent focused. For me, being 19 years old, every single game is big. It won’t make a change who we play against or what day it is, I’ll always try to do my best. We defend as a team every time. We don’t want to make mistakes.
“I went home on Saturday and watched the full Thistle game again. I do that for every game. That’s how I work. I look at the details, I look at the goals. I look at when I’m with the ball to find easier solutions next time.
“You must watch it and learn from your mistakes and what you did well, too. I go back and forth to learn things then I have a chat with the staff on the Monday when we meet again.
”I’ve been here for almost two years and I’ve played alongside so many defenders that it helps me a lot.”
Ajer added: “Zenit are a good team and we’re really looking forward to that challenge on Thursday.
“We respect them a lot, we’ve seen a lot of them and we’ll see a lot more of them in the coming days, so we’ll be ready.”
