Brendan Rodgers had to deal with an utterly bizarre question from a US journalist ahead of Celtic’s meeting with Manchester City. The Celtic manager sat down with new No.1 Kasper Schmeichel to preview the clash when he was asked by a journalist about rivalries.
The majority of journalists at the media conference were football journalists from Britain, Ireland and the States but one journalist clearly didn’t have all the facts together when he quizzed Brendan on whether Man City and Celtic shared a rivalry.
Speaking at the media conference, the journalist asked if there was a rivalry between the sides.
“People around here in the Raleigh area think of rivalries, UNC, Duke vs NC State, the college towns.
“So how would you describe the rivalry with Manchester City, if there is one?”
The Celtic manager sought clarification on the bizarre question: “What, between Celtic and Manchester City?”
To which the reporter confirmed that he was asking whether the sides were rivals.
“Yeah, there’s no rivalry, no.
“There’s no rivalry. It’s just a fantastic game for us to play, there’s a friendship there between both clubs that’s been there for many years.
“Kasper started at Manchester City so it’s a special game for him as well but I think for us it’ll be great to see Pep having worked against him in the Premier League but most importantly for us, it’s our fifth game in our preparation phase and we’ll be working very hard to get everything out of it that we need to.”
Celtic face City as part of their preparations for the beginning of the Premiership season at the beginning of August. Brendan will be keen to make sure that his side give a good account of themselves against Pep’s City. In recent years, the teams have met twice in the UEFA Champions League, where the teams drew both games.