Brendan Rodgers has reacted to Celtic’s monumental victory over Aberdeen at Pittodrie, which has made his side seven points clear at the Scottish Premiership summit.
Admittedly, the match wasn’t a memorable one in terms of a contest, but the Bhoys showed steely resilience to sucker punch their closest challengers courtesy of a brilliant volley from Reo Hatate.
Greg Taylor will take deserved credit for his assist, a lovely lofted through ball in the build-up, but the Japan international still had so much to do in order to surpass Ross Doohan.
Ultimately, crunch moments call for cool heads in difficult surroundings. Celtic showed they are firmly the team to beat in Scotland; nobody can get close to them at the moment.
Now, Brendan Rodgers has reacted after the Bhoys made a statement against Aberdeen to take a seven-point Scottish Premiership advantage back to Glasgow.
Brendan Rodgers on Celtic’s statement victory over Aberdeen
Speaking live on Sky Sports, Rodgers paid tribute to Celtic’s capacity to defeat Aberdeen despite facing some ‘horrible’ conditions at Pittodrie.
He stated: “I thought we deserved to win the game. It was a horrible night for football, but we tried to play in the conditions. I thought in the first half, we came through the pitch well, probably just the last past, but sometimes the guys were playing it, and the wind was taking the ball away, so we misplaced a couple of those passes that would’ve got us in.
“Counter-pressing needed to be a wee bit better because they broke out a few times; we just weren’t quick enough on the ball. But then, in the second half, I thought we controlled most of the game, controlled any moments.
“Of course, there’s going to be one or two you have to defend. Then we ended up getting a fantastic team goal, great pass by Greg Taylor, I brought him on in that inside position, and a wonderful finish by Reo, so I thought on a really really difficult night, tough place to come, to get the clean sheet, to get the win, I thought we deserved (it).
“It’s really, really windy for the players; I thought both sets of players gave their all; they gave everything to the game, but I’m so happy for our supporters. To travel all the way up here, to be stuck in that corner with the wind and everything coming in at them, to see the team win, it’s a great reward for their effort to get here and a great reward for the players because they gave absolutely everything to the game.”
Brendan Rodgers delighted at Celtic’s resilience
Continuing on, Rodgers also noted his side’s resilient qualities to stand up to a difficult task at Pittodrie and emerge victorious. The Irishman said: “It might just be one moment in the game. We’ve got a really strong group here. Mentally and physically, we always play like we did.
We’ve played some brilliant football this season and scored a lot of goals. Tonight, it was going to be tough for a number of reasons, but actually, the goal comes from some really good build-up, playing through the pitch and a wonderful pass and finish. (I’m) so pleased for the players; they have everything, the guys coming into the game; it’s a really important win for us.”
What a victory for Celtic! Nobody is counting their chickens at this stage of the season, but the result feels like a significant one for the support.
While fans will bask in the glory of tonight’s triumph, Rodgers and company will dust themselves down before taking on Hibernian this Saturday.
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