Brendan Rodgers, like many Celtic fans, seems to be getting a little bit fed up of it all. The smoke bombs, the other pyro, the emails from UEFA.

And most of all, the prospect of taking his team into a crunch European fixture – such as the mouthwatering Champions League tie against Bayern Munich that they were handed in today’s draw – without the Celtic support behind them.

But that is the situation facing both him, the club and their fans as Celtic were this morning forced to warn supporters who were booking flights for the game in Germany in a few weeks’ time that their trip may be a wasted one. Certainly, if they were hoping to get into the Allianz Arena.

Celtic were issued a €20,000 fine and had been placed on a two-year probationary period by UEFA following the use of pyrotechnics at the match last year in Dortmund, and were told if there was a further transgression during that period, then they may be banned from selling tickets to one away game.

The message seemed to get through as the Celtic fans subsequently travelled to Bergamo and Zagreb without incident, but after Adam Idah had scored his own and his team’s first goal at Villa Park on Wednesday night, a smoke bomb was hurled from the away end onto the field of play.

The inevitable notice from UEFA has since followed, and while Celtic have promised to make ‘robust representations’ to the governing body, they have warned there is a real risk that their fans will now miss out on the chance to attend the glamour tie.

(Image: David Davies - PA)That would be devastating for Rodgers, his team, and those he views as being the ‘genuine’ fans of the club.

“I'd be bitterly disappointed for every genuine Celtic supporter,” Rodgers said.

“Clearly, that's not decided yet. But it's serious enough for the club to put that statement out.

“For those Celtic supporters that genuinely bond with their club and their team and have travelled, near and far, over many, many years, to even be at the risk of not going, tells you the culmination of events that have taken us to that point.

“So, yes, that's where we're sitting. I really hope that it's not the case. Like I say, for the genuine supporter who loves the club and supports the club and has gone to games all over the world. But let's see what comes from it.

“I think there's lots of things in the modern game around behaviour and social behaviours. I really hope that football can be the beacon of change for lots of this here.

“We would never want to get to a point where we go into a game of such magnitude and we can't take our support base, or have the opportunity for our supporters to come.

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“I would hope it wouldn't [come to that], but if it takes something like that, then it has to change.

“The football club, we can't keep paying hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of fines. Because in the main, Celtic is what they are because of their supporters.

“Those genuine supporters, like I say, that bond with the club. We aren't a club that has money pouring in from all angles, and sponsorship and TV and everything else. This is through the organisation of the club and our support base, and what they give.

“There are so many things around it that I don't like, but we have the opportunity to change that. I hope it does for the sake of the genuine Celtic support.”

Rodgers has promised that the club and chief executive Michael Nicholson will do all they can for those fans who have behaved properly in the recent away games, with the Celtic manager saying he can understand why they would be frustrated to be shot with the crows simply for standing near them.

“I think the club will always fight for our supporters, that's what they will do,” he said.

“I haven't spoken to Michael or anyone as of yet on that. But it's what the club have always done, they've always fought to represent the support base.

“But like I said, it's been a catalogue of events, it's not just that one, to be in that position where it's in the balance whether you're going to be able to go and watch your team or not. It's been a series of events that has led to that. So yeah, I can understand the frustration.

“From a football perspective, you're losing rhythm, you're losing that moment. I think there's a safety issue as well, clearly, for people in the stands.

“I just find it hard to fathom in terms of...I make the difference between a genuine Celtic supporter and someone who's there just for a different reason.

“For me, our support base is absolutely incredible. What we give to the game, the atmosphere that we create.

“So, I really hope that we don't get this sanction brought upon us for this game, and hopefully then, being so close to that, the breaking of that, then it maybe helps us going forward.”

(Image: PA) As for the actual football itself, Rodgers is relishing the challenge Bayern Munich will pose to his team on the field, feeling that his team are far better equipped to take on that task than they were when on the receiving end of the 7-1 drubbing at the hands of Borussia Dortmund the last time they travelled to Germany.

And, as he joked, at least it wasn’t their only other potential opponent, Real Madrid.

“Yeah, I got the easier one, didn't I?” he laughed.

“Listen, it's brilliant. We've earned the right to get to the play-off stage. The players have been outstanding over the eight games. And that qualifies us to play one of these top teams. So, yeah, we'll look forward to that when it comes.

“I think we have improved [since Dortmund]. I think the key message for me this season, and what we wanted to see, was progress. And there's no doubt the team have progressed over the course of the competition.

“I was so proud of the team the other night, because what we clearly showed in the game against Aston Villa was that our spirit was just not broken.

“I felt that in Dortmund, the game just got away from us, but either way we were on the heavy end of a bad scoreline.

“How these players fought back from that, and learned from that, the evidence is there over the course of the games, whether it was Atalanta, some of the other games, and the other night. They didn't panic.

“We were 2-0 down in a real cauldron of an atmosphere, a team that really, really wanted to win, playing at home. But we just stayed calm with it. And our only disappointment was coming out of the game, we just didn't quite have our squad there to really affect the second half of the game.

“Because the players are giving so much, and at that level, you want to be able to change it, and make those changes that bring that energy to the game.

“But over the course of the eight games, we've shown clear progression, both in our football, in our mentality, and our attitude. Because being successful at that level is not just about ability. It's about attitude and mentality.

“And the players have shown that, and now we'll need to show that again, getting to this next level.”