Nadir Ciftci: Magical Brendan’s got us in shape to do a trick in Europe

NADIR CIFTCI claims Brendan Rodgers has turned Celtic into a machine.

Now the Turk is backing the Hoops to motor past Hapoel Be’er Sheva.

Ciftci has been staggered by the transformation so far under the former Liverpool boss.

The striker feels are unrecognisable from the team which laboured for much of the previous campaign and crashed out in the Champions League qualifiers to Malmo under Ronny Deila.

But Ciftci, who played in both games against the Swedes, feels this is only the start and is confident everybody will be left trailing in the Hoops’ slipstream when they find top gear.

He said: “It’s very, very important we get through to the Champions League.

“A huge club like this deserves to play on a big stage like that, so hopefully we will qualify.

“This team has the quality, the manager and the fans, and we deserve to be there.

“It feels much different from last year, football wise and atmosphere wise. The way we play, the way the manager wants us to play, the way he sets up everything, the atmosphere comes from that.

“The stadium is getting fuller and fuller because the way we are playing, people are wanting to come to our stadium.

“Trust me, this will only get better as the season goes on.

“It’s only been a couple of months so far.

“I think the belief has always been there, but it just didn’t come out properly.

“When you get a few disappointing results you get a bit low, but with this manager, whatever happens, no matter how many times we lose in a row, I don’t think we’ll lose our confidence that easily.

“He keeps everyone on their toes. I only have good feelings.

“We’re already scoring a lot of late goals, which is the result of a good pre-season.

“He said when he came in ‘I’m going to make you guys a machine’.

“What’s it been, two and a half months? We are almost there. I can’t wait to see what we are going to be like at the end of the season.

“It’s an honour to be here. It’s something special to work with this guy. Everybody can feel the difference.”

Ciftci’s praise of Rodgers comes despite the Turk spending most of his time on the bench under him.

The former Dundee United hitman still feels he has learned loads from the Northern Irishman — and is desperate to show him.

He said: “Even though I haven’t played that much, I have learned a lot from him.

“It is an honour to play for a manager like him and he has been very good for me so far.

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“He is the best manager I have worked under. His quality is so high.

“I’ve only been working with him for a few months, but I have learned so many things already. I will listen to whatever he says. I just want to do my best for him and the club.

“I have had good chats with him so far. You can only play 11 on a Saturday and three subs. Sometimes you will be the one that doesn’t come on.

“But when you get the chance, you have to show him what you can do. He says this to every single player.

“Everyone is involved and is important, not just the 11 who start.”

With his entire first-choice starting XI back in Glasgow, Rodgers chose Saturday’s friendly with Inter Milan in Limerick as the stage for his fringe players like Ciftci to prove their worth.

Ryan Christie, Liam Henderson and Kristoffer Ajer were the stand-outs at Thomond Park, home of Munster Rugby, in a 2-0 defeat.

Ciftci, who was skipper for the evening, believes it was an ideal audition ahead of Wednesday’s vital Champions League play-off first leg against Hapoel Be’er Sheva.

He added: “It was a good workout against a very good team. If you look at the score, I don’t think we deserved to lose 2-0

“It was a really young squad, but it was a good run-out for the guys.

“We worked really hard and tried our best to do what the gaffer wanted us to do. I think it shows Celtic have a lot of strength in depth.

“We have two teams basically, and the guys who played did really well against a big club.

“To have the confidence to play the way we did against a big team like Inter is very encouraging.

“The result was disappointing of course, but these games are about showing what you can do. I think we did that.

“It was a huge honour to wear the captain’s armband at a club like this. I was only 12 the last time I was the captain.

“But I think at Celtic you always need 11 captains on the pitch.”