Why Brendan Rodgers is so delighted with drawing Zenit St Petersburg | OneFootball

Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers has revealed how pleased he is to draw against Zenit St Petersburg in the last 32 of the Europe League on Monday.

Celtic, who finished third in their Champions League group, are to host Zenit in the first leg on 15 February with a trip to Russia a week later, and a draw against Roberto Mancini’s men has provided Rodgers with something to be pleased about.

Talk about coincidences: The Northern Irishman was in charge of Liverpool at the same stage of the Europa League in 2013, when they lost on away goals to the St Petersburg club.

“We had 25 minutes/half-hour to score it and went close and couldn’t just make it so we went out on away goals.

“I think they are doing okay in their league. They have a few experienced players and I remember Branislav Ivanović from Chelsea, who is there.

“We are delighted to be in the draw, it is a really exciting game for us.

“St Petersburg is a beautiful city from my memory so we will look forward to that when the game comes along and it will be nice to see Roberto Mancini again.”

Speaking to the press following Monday’s UEL draw, Rodgers also admitted that he almost joined Mancini as first-team coach at Manchester City before opting for a career at Swansea in 2010.

“When I was rejected as a manager at Reading and was in between jobs and I didn’t think I was going to get a manager’s job,” Rodgers recalls.

“I was in talks with Manchester City about maybe going back there as a first-team coach.

“I spoke to the club, all went well and I flew out to Milan to meet Roberto. We had a nice chat and it ended up that not long after that I got the job at Swansea as a manager.

“We have come across each other since, he is a good guy, nice guy, but I haven’t seen him for a couple of years now.”

Zenit have been charged with acts of damage following their clash against Real Sociedad at Anoeta on 7 December, and the case will be dealt with by the Uefa control, ethics and disciplinary committee on 22 February, the day of Zenit’s home match against Celtic.

It remains to be seen to what capacity Zenit’s stadium will be set during Celtic’s visit, as Uefa have already ordered a partial closure to the 56,000-plus seat Saint Petersburg stadium for their next match.