Brendan Rodgers: Celtic’s win at Rangers can be big moment in team development

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers believes his side’s victory at Ibrox can be a big moment in their development as a team.

The Scottish champions had not scored in their previous two matches and were without four injured centre-backs against Rangers, while their starting full-backs could not complete the game.

But, after dominating the first half and leading through Kyogo Furuhashi, Celtic shut out Rangers in the second half as they came under sustained pressure for long spells.

A back four of Anthony Ralston, Alexandro Bernabei, Liam Scales and recent signing Gustaf Lagerbielke finished the game with a clean sheet along with the help of two good saves from Joe Hart.

Rodgers, whose side moved four points ahead of their city rivals in the cinch Premiership, told Celtic TV: “In football, you can’t play perfectly all the time.

“We want to create opportunities and we want to score, but when you have those days where maybe you are away from home and you’re under pressure, you have to show that resilience. And they had that in bucketloads.

“So I’m so happy for the players. I think they have been on death watch by the media for the last week or so, coming into this game.

“But for me, as a coach, it was about staying calm, working the players and knowing that they’re going to grow and develop and this is a big part of the development – to come and win away at Ibrox.

“When you consider what this group is missing in terms of players, but not just players, influential players, to come here and show that desire and drive to get a result is really impressive.

“So it’s a big moment for the squad – they can feel what it’s like to get this win and I’m really happy for them.”