Brendan Rodgers singles out Celtic's iconic Rangers slayer and tells players exactly how to celebrate
Brendan Rodgers hailed Celtic’s penalty prowess as the Parkhead side secured the 10th trophy of his two spells in charge to further strengthen their recent dominance over Rangers and put them one ahead of their rivals in the all-time trophy count.
The manager watched Daizen Maeda score the decisive kick after Kasper Schmeichel saved Ridvan Yilmaz’s effort to give Celtic a 5-4 shootout win in the League Cup final after a thrilling 3-3 draw. Rodgers described Maeda as an “iconic” figure at the club after scoring four goals and four assists against Rangers. The winger has now won seven honours with Celtic. Rodgers himself has still lost only once against Rangers in a run that has now stretched to 20 meetings. Celtic have now edged ahead of Rangers in terms of major honours - 119 to 118.
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Hide Ad“I know the magnitude of this game…Celtic and Rangers, it’s worldwide, and for both sets of supporters it means so much to people's lives,” said the manager. “So I come into every game - think it's maybe, what, my 20th game (v Rangers)? - but I always treat it like the first and prepare that way.


“As I said, it's all about coming out on the other side. And the guys showed a big heart to come back from being behind in the game and then to obviously show that composure in the penalties. And the most important thing is being on the podium at the end and they achieved that.”
He praised the quality of the penalties. Adam Idah, Callum McGregor, Arne Engels, Reo Hatate and Maeda all converted. It’s the second time in successive seasons that they have prevailed in a penalty shootout, having beaten Aberdeen 6-5 on penalties after another 3-3 draw in the Scottish Cup semi-final in April.
“I think that’s twice now we have been here….” he said. “We practise them a lot. The coaches do great work. A lot of the players, they'll take a couple of penalties each day. We knew, obviously, when the final whistle goes at full time, who were taking them and the importance of the order in which they go. But you're still looking for your goalkeeper to come out (on top) and, obviously, Kasper makes a really good save for us.”
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Hide AdRodgers put Celtic’s off colour first half display down to “tension”. He added: “I thought we were not taking the right decisions in our build up play.” Rodgers revealed that Liam Scales replacing centre-half Auston Trusty had been a “tactical” decision. He described the Irish player’s performances as "excellent".
He also commended Maeda, who scored a fine goal to put his side 2-1 in front as well as scoring the winning penalty. “I think that he's up against an opponent (James Tavernier) who's really, really good going forward,” he said.


“So he has to do that work. But then he has that persistence and mentality to do it on the other side as well. So, yes, he's becoming a real iconic figure here at the club, with and without the ball.
“I'm delighted for him,” he added. “And Nicolas Kuhn on the other side, I thought, was really good. He gets a goal in the first bout of pace early on in the first half, which can put you on the back foot. So he had some opportunities where he just didn't quite fall for them, but I thought both wingers worked very, very hard.”
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Hide AdRodgers stressed that he wanted to make sure the players’ enjoyed having wrested this trophy from Rangers’ grasp rather than looking ahead to a potential treble. The Parkhead side are 11 points ahead of third-placed Rangers in the league.
“No, no, it's about celebrating this one,” he said. “It’s about celebrating it well and be with your families and enjoying it. And then we're back in on Wednesday, getting ready for Dundee United. And that is it. That is it.
“We've done so, so well since pre-season. You always want to put a marker down if you can win that first trophy. It can give you that huge lift and it's really a reward for how the players have been up until this point.


"They can enjoy it, put it to bed, and it's our next game is the most important one. And then we see how the season progresses from there. I think both teams obviously had midweek games, so for that, they deserve huge credit for putting that energy into the game to make it the spectacle that it was.
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Hide Ad‘So, yes, to have that opportunity to recover now and get ready, because obviously it's a really busy spell, not just to the end of this month, but we've actually got more games in January. You have to enjoy these moments. It's such a special win for us today and we'll then get ready for our next game.”
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