Celtic reaction: Brendan Rodgers takes aim at 'Rangers coming' chat and explains why he is 'very, very lucky'

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers struck a defiant tone over the threat posed by Rangers following his side’s 2-1 home derby success.

A victory that means he has now won 12 and lost only one of the 15 encounters against his club’s ancient adversaries, trumping a sixth different figure in the Ibrox side’s technical in Philippe Clement came on an afternoon when defeat was considered unthinkable for his Celtic standing following back-to-back league defeats earlier this month.

In re-establishing an eight-point gap – having played two games more than the title rivals from across the city – Rodgers didn’t miss that his aim again proved true when taking on a fifth permanent Rangers manager since 2016. Mark Warbuton, Pedro Caixinha, Steven Gerrard, and temporary occupant Graeme Murty all bested in his first spell, with now Michael Beale and the Belgian – in a first head-to-head, that ended his counterpart’s near three-month, 16-game unbeaten run – having been so in a second stint that began last summer.

“Over my two spells here I have worked against five Rangers managers and every time Rangers were coming. Every time, at some point,” the Celtic manager said. “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.

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has now enjoyed derby victories over six different Rangers counterparts and was keen to stress how he has dealt with challenges from across the city as he acknowledged the improvement Philippe Clement has overseen with the Ibrox team in his two-and-a-half months. (Photo by Craig Foy / SNS Group)

“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.

“[And] we will be [stronger after the break]. [Reo] Hatate is back involved today, in a different stage of the game we could have given him some game time. [Liel] Abada coming back makes a difference for us, he is a goalscorer. Other players will come back, Cameron Carter-Vickers will be ready after the break. And hopefully we can add to the squad. I would expect us to be better.”

Meanwhile, Rodgers gushed over his captain Callum McGregor’s ‘wow’ factor, after the midfielder produced a colossal man-of-the-match performance. “What an amazing player. Wow. You can be so proud of that kid,” he said. 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. …”