Champions League: Celtic can ‘make it difficult’ for Bayern Munich or Real Madrid

This is the first time Celtic have reached the knockout stages of the Champions League since 2013, as they benefitted from the wider range of teams they played in the new format.

Rodgers himself is a fan, and says Celtic’s progression is evidence Scottish sides can compete on Europe’s biggest stage.

“I’ve really enjoyed it,” he said. “I’m pretty sure there would have been a level of excitement tonight with who you might get. I’ve enjoyed the variance of the games.

“Scotland gets a wee bit of stick in its football. You can clearly see we have teams who have courage to play. We’re nowhere near the resource levels of teams in the Premier League, but we can still be competitive.”

The first-half at Villa Park was evidence of that.

Morgan Rogers early double sent the famous old ground into ecstasy and memories of the Dortmund drubbing were brought to mind.

However, Celtic weathered the storm and drew level through two Adam Idah goals off the back of some wonderful build-up play.

The hosts’ quality shone through after the break, but Celtic gave them a game. Indeed, they were the only side to score at Villa Park in the league phase.

“Celtic stuck at it and you have to give them credit,” former Scotland forward James McFadden said on Sportsound.

“They stuck to it and put everything into it. They can take some confidence from it because at times they looked good.”

Rodgers was effusive in his praise for the way his players went toe-to-toe with Villa at points.

“The word that strikes me is pride,” he said.

“We’re coming to a team that over the last couple of years have been at the highest level in the Premier League. We played with so much courage.

“We scored two very good goals, and overall to take the game to injury time was a great effort. We’re disappointed to lose but we played our part in a good game.

“That was always the objective, to come in and be competitive at this level.”