Brendan Rodgers warns ‘selfless’ player in penalty switch as Celtic march on

Arne Engels strokes home the opener against Hearts from the spot on his full debut for Celtic (Photo by Rob Casey / SNS Group)

Brendan Rodgers has praised the gesture from Reo Hatate that saw record signing Arne Engels scored his first goal for the club – but warned the Japanese midfielder not to be so charitable again.

The Celtic manager was smiling when he made this veiled threat on what turned out to be a perfect afternoon for the Parkhead side ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League opener against Slovan Bratislava.

Goals from Engels, from the penalty spot, and fellow new signing Luke McCowan made it an unhappy 38th birthday for Hearts manager Steven Naismith. His side have now lost seven successive games and have slumped to the bottom of the league after Kilmarnock picked up a point at St Mirren.

No such worries for Celtic, who were helped on their way by a penalty seven minutes after half time after James Penrice was judged to have handled Nicolas Kuhn’s cross. Engels stroked home on his full debut after Hatate had offered him the ball in a selfless gesture. The Japanese midfielder has already scored twice this season.

“Reo was our number one (penalty taker) and Arne was number two,” confirmed Rodgers. “They trained yesterday with (analyst) Jack Lyons. Jack looks after those guys on the penalties and both of them were very, very good in terms of taking of it.

"I think Reo’s selflessness got the better of him and he gave it to Arne. I'm just happy he scored. He might have heard about it (otherwise)! But you can see how comfortable he was in taking it. He showed great composure and finished well.”

McCowan scored the decisive goal with a minute of normal time left, although another eight minutes were added by referee Colin Steven.

“He’s still adapting a lot to the speed of the game, the tempo of the game, but he will never, ever let you down whether he starts the game or comes into the game," said Rodgers. “I think for a young guy, a Celtic supporter, it's his absolute dream to be here. You see it, you sense it. I see it in him every single day and to then actually score at Celtic Park and get that feeling from the supporters…The supporters recognise it as well. It’s brilliant for him, I am so happy for him.”