Kolo Toure is in line to make his Celtic debut against Astana tomorrow night.
The former Liverpool defender was signed 10 days ago and has undergone an extensive fitness programme since putting pen to paper.
Despite missing the friendly against Barcelona at the weekend Rodgers has put Toure in his squad to face the Kazak champions.
“Kolo will be in the squad,” the Celtic boss confirmed at this afternoon’s pre-match media conference. “He has trained well since coming in.
“We left him behind at the weekend to continue with that and I am confident that he can play a part in the game tomorrow. If I feel he can start in the game and he is ready, I will have no problem playing him. I wouldn’t think it would be gamble, we are just assessing fitness at the moment.
“He is super-experienced. Kolo has had a great impact already in the short period of time he has had here but you also have to try to apply a little bit of common sense to it.”
Erik Sviachenko and Nir Bitton will miss out through injury but new dad Stefan Johansen will be available for selection.
With a 1-1 draw from the first leg the tie is very much in Celtic’s hands as they push towards a place in the group phase of the Champions League.
Over 50,000 tickets have been sold for the match with Rodgers looking forward to experiencing the backing of the Celtic support in full voice.
“It will be a different game than what it was out there,” the Irishman added. “We’ll have a great support behind us and the players enjoy playing at home.
“Of course we have to finish off the job. We know it will be a tough game but we are really looking forward to it.
“We understand the magnitude of tomorrow’s game but as I said we are looking forward to playing at home. The crowd have been brilliant.”
Tomorrow’s match will be refereed by Romanian whistler Istvan Kovacs. The 31-year-old Romanian whistler has never taken charge of a Champions League match but has extensive experience of underage European matches at club and international level.
Last season Kovacs took charge of three Europa League qualifying matches plus one low key group match between Qabala and Kuban Krasnador. In season 14/15 he was also in charge of Kuban Krasnador’s Europa League group match against Everton at Goodison Park.
