Ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League clash between Celtic and Bayern Munich, Hoops boss Brendan Rodgers has admitted that star striker Moussa Dembele is miles behind his opposite number Robert Lewandowski.
Nevertheless, he believes the French youngster, who made France’s provisional squad ahead of next month’s friendly matches against Wales and Germany, has the needed self-belief and arrogance to reach such lofty heights.
The Polish striker has been on top of his game since bursting onto the scene at Borussia Dortmund, and Rodgers feels such level of consistency, added to the aforementioned factors, can fire Dembele to such level.
The Northern Irish boss said pre-game: “Moussa has a long way to go before he reaches the levels of Robert Lewandowski. Lewandowski’s been doing it consistently for a few years now at the highest level.
“Moussa’s at the beginning of his career at this level. Moussa showed last year (with his brace against Manchester City) that when he’s fit he’s got that capability to play at that level and that’s all you want.
“Now it’s the case of over the next few years consistently showing that he can do that. Moussa was great for us in the Manchester City game. He was a fantastic reference point for the team.
“He’s got that big game mentality. You also saw it the other night, how he was in domestic match against Aberdeen at Pittodrie. He’s a big game player and the juices flow.
“Big-game players have a belief. For some players things like that can be a blur, but for Moussa he believes. He has that nice charisma and arrogance for the level. You need that level of arrogance – it’s half the battle. At this level you know because there’s lots of talent, but you have to believe.”
Dembele has overcome an earlier hamstring issue to hit his best form this term, scoring 4 goals in his last 3 games, including coming off the bench against Hibernian to fire the Hoops through to the League Cup final.
Tuesday’s night clash against Munich could turn out to be his biggest audition for next year’s World Cup, as a standout performance and goal(s) will most likely hand him a spot in the national team for next month’s friendlies.
