After starting Group C with a humbling 7-0 defeat in Barcelona Celtic signed off with a 0-0 draw away to Manchester City.
The English side weren’t at full strength but neither were the hoops with Kieran Tierney and Scott Sinclair missing through injury.
It would have been easy to learn nothing from the match by parking the bus and losing by a goal or two- or scraping a 0-0 draw- but Rodgers is more progressive than that.
Celtic played their normal attacking game, enjoyed bursts of possession and created enough chances to win.
Looking forward the hoops can approach next season’s qualifiers with some confidence and the likelihood of being drawn in a group less daunting than this season’s with teams from England, Spain and Germany.
Over the six matches every player in the Celtic squad has improved with James Forrest, Stuart Armstrong and Tom Rogic gaining experience that they wouldn’t get in a decade of domestic football.
“I thought it was a brilliant team performance,” Rodgers said. “City wanted to press us but our possession was good and we got a great opening goal which we deserved.
“We were stretched for the equaliser but for the remainder of the game we pressed and forced City to play a lot of long balls.
“We showed composure when we had to build. The energy and quality of our game was at a high level.
“I’m disappointed we didn’t win as we had chances and Craig didn’t have a lot to do.
“I always said this was a team ready to learn and progress and apart from the first game our level has been good.
“We competed against the superpowers and could have beaten City in both games. It sets the standard for us.”
