BRENDAN Rodgers today backed the indomitable spirit of Celtic captain Scott Brown to help drive the Parkhead club on in Europe and perform even better domestically in the coming months.

Rodgers revealed that Brown had been nursing the same Achilles injury he struggled with at this time last season when his team played Rosenborg in the Champions League second qualifying round in Trondheim on Wednesday night.

However, the Northern Irishman, whose men won the double header 3-1 on aggregate to go through to a third round meeting with AEK Athens of Greece, has come to expect such selflessness from his skipper.

Brown will become the first Scottish player ever to make 100 appearances in continental competition when Celtic take on AEK in Glasgow on Wednesday evening.

His manager feels reaching that landmark is due to his burning desire to play even when, as was the case in the meeting with Rosenborg earlier this week, he is not 100 per cent fit.

“He has had an issue with his Achilles,” he said. “He had the same thing at this time last year. But he is fine. He will be in to recover and he will soldier on like he does and play himself out of it. I think it is just a case of getting through it over these next two to three weeks.

“I think that he is getting recognised now for the great career that he has had and is having. He is a wonderful leader. To play that number of games you have got to be available so it is a great testament to how he looks after himself and his fitness.

“He has made himself available for all these games. He is wonderful example for all our players, both senior and youth. His leadership qualities and his drive and hunger to play is admirable. Hopefully he has got many more.”

Rodgers added: “He has just got this in-built love of football and love of the game. You get to that stage in your life and your career where you know you aren’t 21 or 22 and the brain starts to talk to you a little bit more and you recognise that you need to maximise every time you train and every time you play.

“He is a mature guy now and he appreciates it a lot more. He is just embracing it all. He has been brilliant in my time here I have to say. I am so proud that he is the captain of this club.”

Brown will have to be at his best if Celtic are to overcome AEK and go through to the Champions League play-off for the fourth season running even though the double treble winners’ opponents only start their league season later this month.

Marinos Ouzounidis’s side are expected to provide formidable opposition – particularly in front of 70,000 of their supporters in the second leg in the Olympic Stadium in Athens on Tuesday week.

Rodgers, though, believes the Greeks will be wary of his team given how well they have acquitted themselves in the Champions League, both in qualifying and in the group games, since he took charge two seasons ago.

“Your job will always be to look at the opponents, their history and strengths and weaknesses,” he said. “But I think we are also a good team as well. That’s something I always drive home to the players.

“Like I said to them on Wednesday night, you have a choice. Do you want to go to Athens or do you want to go to Cork? I think they wanted to go to Athens - no disrespect to Cork.”

Rodgers is unsure if Celtic will have an advantage over AEK because due to the fact they have started their season – Rosenborg were well into their league campaign and they were comfortably defeat over two legs.

"I spoke to Stig Bjornebye after the Rosenborg game,” he said. “He is their sporting director and a famous Liverpool player. He was talking about the fitness levels of our players in the first leg and how fit they looked considering they had not long started back compared to his players. You can never tell.”

Celtic will launch their bid for their eighth consecutive Scottish title tomorrow when they host Livingston and Rodgers admitted that he will be looking for Brown and his team mates to improve on their league displays last season when they failed to win eight league games at home.

“I think that’s our aim,” he said. “Our aim is always to be better each season. I think when you work with individual players and with teams collectively they can always improve.

“What we did the first season was a historical season in every facet and that was always going to be difficult to follow that up in terms of records and numbers and all of that.

“But we did the best job we possibly could, which was to win all three domestic trophies and qualify for our Champions League.

“So this year we talked about it before we broke up that we will be better this season and we have seen that in the pre-season already. So we already have a way to go in order to improve. But our mentality is good and that is important.”