Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers on his failure to find a consistent centre-back pairing

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Celtic were forced to play Mikael Lustig at centre-back against Bayern Munich in midweek.

Brendan Rodgers has told the Guardian that Celtic have had a problem finding a settled centre-back pairing ever since the moment he arrived at Celtic Park.

Celtic have dominated Scottish football ever since Rodgers took charge at the start of last season.

However, the Bhoys have done so without being able to name a settled backline.

Celtic have a number of injury prone centre-backs, and they suffered the consequences in the Champions League in midweek.

The Bhoys had to do without Jozo Simunovic at Bayern Munich, which forced Rodgers to play Mikael Lustig out of position in the centre of his defence.

And Bayern made Celtic pay, as they picked up a comfortable 3-0 victory.

Rodgers now admits that Celtic may need to buy a new centre-back, as he needs to find a reliable pairing in defence.

“Since I’ve come in here, from the very first day, we’ve been struggling with the availability of central defenders,” Rodgers said. “Not just one, not just two, it’s been three and sometimes four. It’s something we’ve had to deal with and something we’ll have to look at in terms of getting that consistency.”

Celtic did attempt to bring in a new centre-back over the summer, but they were unable to get a deal over the line.

Celtic are next in action at the weekend, when they take on Hibernian in the semi-final of the Scottish League Cup.