Brendan Rodgers Reflects on Celtic’s 1-0 Victory Over Aberdeen

Brendan Rodgers, the manager of Celtic, spoke to BBC Scotland, stating: “Fair play to the players, they were absolutely brilliant. That weather was as bad as I’ve had it, especially coming up here.” Rodgers expressed his view that “both sets of players tried to play the game as best they could,” and he believed his team “deserved to win.” He noted that in the initial half, Celtic “took control” and “worked it quite well into the final third of the pitch but couldn’t quite make it.” He added that “We needed to take a little bit more care in our passing in the second half.” Rodgers extended “huge credit to the players to keep the concentration, to defend that well – especially those few moments at the end – I’m so, so pleased.” The manager conveyed his feeling that “in time [a goal would come],” emphasizing, “we trust our process, we trust our game.” He further explained that “Especially after winning 6-0 in the semi-final we knew Aberdeen wouldn’t roll over.” He characterized Aberdeen as “a team that are really hard to beat,” acknowledging that “we knew it was going to be tough and we’d maybe have to take the game into the final half hour.” Addressing inquiries regarding the conclusion of the league title race, Rodgers stated: “There are 38 games so it’s nowhere near done. I understand people will look at it that way but for us there’s such a long way to go.” He clarified that “We’re trying to get through the games, play well, but there’s no thought of that [title] in the players’ minds.” Rodgers concluded by asserting, “Our culture is very much based around winning and we know we have to work very hard in our training and on the pitch to do that.”