‘ROSS COUNTY AS IMPORTANT AS PSG,’ INSISTS RODGERS

BRENDAN RODGERS insists tomorrow afternoon‘s early kick-off against Ross County is every bit as important as next week’s Champions League encounter against Paris Saint-Germain and the Betfred League Cup Final against Motherwell a week on Sunday.

The Celtic boss is eager to maintain the record-breaking run of 63 games undefeated against Scottish opposition when they travel to Dingwall.

Rodgers said: “It’ll end at some point, but we only focus on the next game and we won’t be giving it up easy, that’s for sure.

“The squad is coming back now. I see the competitiveness in the players – we have Patrick Roberts back training, Jozo Simunovic is back, too, and the players are hungry. We are working tirelessly every day.

“We go in knowing it is a tough game against Ross Count, but we go into every game planning to win.

“There is no difference. We don’t think about anything other than the Ross County game.”

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For the first time this season, Rodgers is close to having a fully-fit and available squad.

Simunovic and Erik Sviatchenko have trained with the Dane also having some game-time last week at youth level following his return from a knee ligament injury.

Leigh Griffiths has been able to utilise the international break to overcome a calf injury while Stuart Armstrong and Scott Brown, who both had minor ailments which kept them out of Scotland’s friendly against Holland last week, are both also set to return.

Rodgers added: “Once all the players are back from international duty, we will focus in on this next period through to the end of December.

“We have clear goals and targets to try and achieve in this period and that’s something which will make sure we keep our minds focused on our work.

“It’s a great spell of games. It’s where we need the squad, but they are brilliant games for us.

“It’s still very early, but we just have to keep focusing on ourselves. We have to play well. We know what we want to achieve but we know there is a lot of hard work involved.

“We will see over the next 24 hours where Patrick and Jozo are at. They may need a wee bit more time, but we will see how they feel.

“Leigh is back training this week. Erik played 45 minutes of a practice match last week.

“They are maybe not football fit. There is a difference between fit and football fit but the availability is there.”

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