Brendan Rodgers: '˜Celtic are lucky to have Moussa Dembele'

Celtic manager hailed Moussa Dembele as 'a top talent' after his perfect hat-trick against Rangers.

The striker scored with his head, right foot and left foot as Celtic won 5-1 at home.

Scott Sinclair and Stuart Armstrong also scored and Rodgers described his side’s performance as “brilliant”.

“For us to come back [after the international break] and play to that intensity and that level and be that clinical, it was a joy to see,” he said.

“Moussa Dembele is a top talent and we’re very lucky to have him here.

“His performance was outstanding. Three wonderful goals and three different types of goals.

“We scored five and maybe could have had two or three more.”

Rodgers made Dembele his first signing as Celtic manager when he brough him noth from Fulham in June.

The Parkhead side had to pay £500,000 in compensation to land the 20-year-old striker but it has proved to be money well spent.

Dembele started against Rangers in the absence of the injured Leigh Griffiths who failed a fitness test in the morning.

Griffiths has also been ruled out of Celtic’s Champions League clash with Barcelona at the Nou Camp on Tuesday.