So far it has been so good for Brendan Rodgers at Celtic with qualification to the Champions League group stages and three wins from three in the League earning him the first Manager of the Month award of the season.
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The former Fulham forward then sealed the first Celtic hat-trick in an Old Firm league fixture since 1966 in the 84th minute after Rangers had been reduced to 10 men as Philippe Senderos’ picked up a second booking for a deliberate handball.
It will also be Rodgers’s first Glasgow derby since he joined the Hoops in pre-season and the Northern Irishman said Friday: “When you are Celtic and you play every game, especially at home, (winning) is what is expected of you”.
MARK WARBURTON says Celtic were worth their Old Firm victory but insists there is NO gulf in class between the sides. The support from them was magnificent, but we don’t come here, or anywhere, and lose goals like that.
Celtic have netted 19 goals in five home matches this season but Warburton was quick to point out that Rangers belied their underdog status during last season’s William Hill Scottish Cup semi-final. I guess we’ll find out just how long ago when Brendan Rodgers’s side face the rather more formidable talents of Barcelona on Tuesday. We are much better than we showed today.
Their squad has been overhauled on a shoestring budget by manager Mark Warburton with only two players costing more than one million pounds, one of them Wallace. I’m just disappointed. We started off the game fine.
“We have got a confidence, we have a confidence in what the manager wants us to do”.
Celtic are odds-on favourites for the Ladbrokes Premiership encounter while Rangers are approaching 5/1 with some bookmakers.
“The sending-off, I can’t defend, it’s a red card but we had a choice to make, do we go for damage limitation or do we look to try and get something out of the game”. That is what I see in Scott. “We are going into a local derby with 60,000 fans, 52,500 of which will be backing one side”, Warburton said.
‘The atmosphere and the crowd baying for blood in terms of having a player sent off, I was anxious for Niko, ‘ explained Warburton. What I expect is a good game of football, I hope a high-quality game of football and I hope it is one that goes our way.
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Midway through the second-half, with Rangers trailing 3-1, the Swiss defender was sent off.
