Brendan Rodgers says that Celtic would be in ‘constant fear’ of Rangers if they listened to the hype around the Ibrox side, and he sent a reminder after his team’s 2-1 triumph over their city rivals that he has now defeated his fifth Rangers manager as Celtic boss.
Philippe Clement had led his Rangers side to Ibrox off the back of a 16-match unbeaten run, and were looking to close the gap on the champions to just two points with two games in hand.
But Rodgers said he has heard talk of ‘Rangers coming’ for his team many times before, and that allowed him to keep a sense of perspective going into such a crucial fixture.
“Over my two spells here I have worked against five Rangers managers and every time Rangers were coming,” Rodgers said.
“Every time, at some point.
“So for me it’s normal. If I listened to media and press then we would be in constant crisis mode and constant fear of Rangers. But it’s the fifth manager now.
“So, for me my focus is only on Celtic and concentrating very much on here and a lot of the stuff that maybe does go around thankfully I ignore it.
“We showed today that with a team still missing key players, and players who will make the difference for us, that we are competitive and we can play football and we can compete. And that is what we will continually do.
“There is no doubt Philippe has improved Rangers. There is no mistake about that. He’s come in, he has used his experience and common sense. He has set the team up well. They are competitive and they play as a team. We knew it was going to be a challenge for us.
“But we had to be super brave. We had to take on the challenge and that is what I have always done when I’ve been here.”
Meanwhile, Rodgers praised Callum McGregor after his impressive display on the day, saying he is on a different level from every other player who was on the pitch, and that he is lucky to have him as his captain.
McGregor turned in a man-of-the-match display to help Celtic over the line, and Rodgers couldn’t praise his skipper highly enough after the game.
“What an amazing player,” he said. “Wow.
“You can be so proud of that kid. I have seen two versions of him. When I was first here I had seen him grow and develop into a really important player for me.
“He was a player I would have taken anywhere when I left here, he was so good. To be able to come back and have him as my captain, I am very, very lucky.
“He is just an absolutely brilliant player, on a different level - with the greatest of respect – to everyone else on the pitch.
“His view of the game, his quality, when to slow the game, when to pick up the tempo. He’s absolutely brilliant.
“I am so happy for him because it is so important as the Celtic captain in these games to perform and he has done that now in the two games we’ve had against Rangers.”
Rodgers feels that McGregor may have been taken for granted in the past, but that now everyone must be aware of just how good a player he is.
“I think thankfully people now recognise his level,” he said.
“I maybe felt that [he was taken for granted] the first time when I was here and sometimes that happens with young players coming through the system.
“But certainly not now. I think he is very much appreciated by the supporters and certainly by his team-mates and obviously me as a manager. It is amazing to have him.”
Rodgers confirmed that Stephen Welsh – who had to be substituted in the first half – had suffered what looks to be a serious shoulder injury, but he was pleased by the contribution of his replacement Maik Nawrocki, who served a reminder of what he was capable of.
“He has been unfortunate not to have played a bit earlier,” Rodgers said.
“He has picked up little niggles on his way back. He has trained for a few weeks and then picked up niggles when he’s not been involved. But that shows every faith that I have in him.
“He couldn’t play in the Champions League so to come in I thought he was good when he came in. A couple of moments when he maybe jumped in a wee bit but that is just about getting his timing back again.
“He passed it well and he is aggressive. He is going to be important for us in the second part of the season.”
