Brendan Rodgers makes confident Celtic vow after huge Champions League win

Brendan Rodgers is riding high on confidence after Celtic showcased their Champions League prowess, beating RB Leipzig in a thrilling 3-1 win. The Northern Irishman vowed after the victory: "We can compete at this level."

Nicolas Kuhn was the man of the hour with an exceptional brace while Reo Hatate sealed the deal with another splendid goal, marking a dramatic bounceback since Celtic's heavy 7-1 defeat to Borussia Dortmund.

With a commanding win against Bundesliga's second-placed team and a fruitful 0-0 draw away at Atalanta, the Scottish champions are rewriting their European story.

Rodgers said: "It gives a real nice confidence for the team. I think we've discovered in the last two games that we can be really competitive.

"If you'd said after the Dortmund game that we would have got four points from Atalanta and Red Bull Leipzig, probably not too many people would have said we would have done that."

"But I think we've discovered that we can play at the level. So it's a great next step. To have seven points after four games, especially with the level of performance that we've played, gives us great encouragement.

"It means in the next four games we can have a real confidence to go and make the play-off stage, but it's still such a long way to go."

Rodgers also conceded that this might well be his finest moment with Celtic in Europe, given Leipzig's iron-clad defense in domestic football.

He continued: "In terms of the level of opponent, I would say that actually it wasn't just the result, but the performance. We played the game with a great charisma and confidence and showed the courage in our pressing."

Rodgers acknowledged that Celtic have secured some impressive results, but highlighted the 2-1 win over Atletico Madrid as the standout performance.

Celtic have successfully navigated their three most challenging games in the league phase and currently sit above prominent teams such as Real Madrid, Barcelona, AC Milan, and Paris St Germain.

When questioned about the possibility of targeting a top-eight finish, Rodgers emphasized the importance of humility: "No, we have to stay humble in our world.

"We can't get too far ahead of ourselves. We played so well. We're in a really good place and we now just focus on our next game against Kilmarnock."

Rodgers also praised Kuhn's performance, particularly his impressive equaliser, but noted that the young German winger still has room for improvement.

"He's still young so he still has more to go," he said. "I thought his pressing could have been better. That was the thing I said to him.

"We've seen his talent. Bringing him to here was about making more goal contributions, being more robust and sustaining playing.

"But I thought he was really exciting when he had the ball and obviously the two goals were great for him having worked at Red Bull Leipzig before as a young player."