Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers has praised his players for picking up a slender first-leg advantage in their Europa League last-32 showdown with Zenit St Petersburg.

A 78th-minute belter from Callum McGregor proved the difference on Thursday night as the Bhoys picked up a deserved 1-0 victory in front of their supporters.

Celtic now head to St Petersburg next week aiming to protect their lead, and Rodgers believes that there will be plenty of chances for his side to pick off the opposition as the Russians chase the goal they require to keep the tie alive.

"It was a very good victory for us. I thought the performance was outstanding," he told reporters post-match. "We were playing against a top side, I think everyone recognises that. For large parts of the game we controlled it, tactically we were excellent and stayed calm when we had to defend.

"But with the ball, I was really pleased with our personality in the game, the control and calmness and we played with great maturity and capped it off at the end with a fantastic goal. We had a couple of other great opportunities. It was very pleasing, the level of creativity and the calmness we showed on the ball. We looked a real threat in the final third.

"We could have had one or two more goals but I can't be that greedy. We have to be happy with the victory and I am delighted with the performance. Like all of these games if you can keep a clean sheet that is important. The stability the team had, they concentrated and organised themselves very well and that is important.

"To then get the goal... we know that we can score goals and they probably need to come out a little bit now to chase the game and of course that can give us more space and opportunities to score. But like tonight it is going to be a tough game but we have given ourselves an opportunity after tonight."

Celtic's victory over Zenit was their first in the knockout stage of any European competition since March 2004.