‘I said to the players’: The pre-match message Rodgers delivered to inspire Celtic’s win over Rangers

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Celtic’s win over Rangers at Ibrox was hard-fought and well-deserved. Kyogo’s stunning strike just on the stroke of halftime meant Brendan Rodgers maintains Celtic’s unbeaten start to the season.

There was doubt prior to kick-off whether Celtic would be able to overcome Rangers considering their injury issues but Rodgers’ side did not disappoint.

Sitting nicely back on top of the league, Brendan Rodgers was delighted with his team’s performance and can now look forward to the international break knowing that his team are back on top of the league with the first derby win under his belt knowing that he has a raft of first-team stars still to come back from injury.

Rodgers said [Sky Sports], “It was a brilliant win for us. I said to the players before the game you’ve got to come here and play like a man.

“Even though we are a very young group, you got to come here with 50,000 against you and you’ve got to come in and show that courage.

“And I thought first half we were excellent in our football. We broke down a little bit in the final third of the pitch and maybe with a fraction more quality and just a bit more finesse in the last pass then we finish it off.

“In the second half, you expect them to come out being at home and under pressure to get a result. But second half, we showed resilience but also we had three big moments as well where we could finish the game off.

“And I think it becomes tighter, because we didn’t take those chances. But I’m so happy for the players. It’s the first big result that they’ve had together. You know, we’ve got half a team not available really.

“So for the new guys to come in and be able to win like that, it feels like a great day for us.”

Celtic can kickstart their season with win over Rangers

Seems like a strange thing to say considering Celtic are unbeaten and on top of the league but this performance at Ibrox will stand them in good stead when the season resumes after the international break.

All the talk before kick-off was about how Celtic would struggle against Rangers, especially with their current injury problems, but Brendan Rodgers’ men stood tall and performed well against the challenge of Michael Beale’s Rangers.

It has to be said that you can see what Rodgers is trying to do with this Celtic team. Some of the passing phases of play were a joy to watch and their counter-attacking threat looked good.

And when the rest of Celtic’s first-team players return from injury, the indications are that Rodgers’ team will be difficult to beat this season.

In other news, Chris Sutton says 25-year-old Celtic player was ‘really excellent’ in win vs Rangers