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Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers set to recall Kolo Toure for Champions League clash in Germany
BRENDAN RODGERS is ready to trust Kolo Toure on Tuesday night as Celtic seek their first ever win in Germany to revive their hopes of post-Christmas European football.
Celtic defender Kolo Toure during the 3-3 Champions League draw with Manchester City
The Hoops plunged to the bottom of their Champions League group when two Toure blunders allowed Borussia Monchengladbach to win at Celtic Park 10 days ago.
However, Toure will be recalled for the return, which the Hoops can’t afford to lose or their Euro dream is effectively over.
Rodgers said: “He will always give his best. He was devastated after the game. He was man enough to stand up and say that.
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers during the 1-0 win over Rangers
Any game I’ve ever had, especially away from home in tough places, he’s been one of the leading players, so if I need to call upon him he’ll be ready
“He’s a true warrior and you don’t get to achieve what he has in the game without that strong mentality.
“Any game I’ve ever had, especially away from home in tough places, he’s been one of the leading players, so if I need to call upon him he’ll be ready.”
The odds would appear to be stacked against Celtic, whose best result in eight matches on German soil is a goalless draw with Hamburg in 2009.
Celtic defender Kolo Toure reacts after suffering a 2-0 defeat to Borussia Moenchengladbach
Rodgers added: “We will probably be expected to lose, like we were the Manchester City game, but we have to ensure we can impose our style on to them and put them on the back foot.
“We never did that enough in the last game, so we want to improve that element of our game.
“It’s a big ask but we’ve got to go there and give it our all. We don’t underestimate the size of the task but the team is confident and any time we’ve had a knock we’ve been able to bounce back and recover and go strong again.
“That’s the beauty of this team, they are a great bunch of boys who want to learn. They have a real hunger to be better and we will hopefully be better than we were in the last game against them.
“Borussia Monchengladbach are one of the crack teams of Europe and they showed that against us.
“There’s no doubt we didn’t play our best, but you also have to give the opponent credit. They were very good.”