Celtic v Rangers: Brendan Rodgers confident Celtic will be in better place for cup semi-final

Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers hopes his side can be in “a good place” when they face Rangers in the Premier Sports Cup semi-final, after drawing 0-0 with their rivals at Ibrox earlier in the season.

A 4-0 win over Partick Thistle put the cup holders in the final four, and Celtic were then drawn to face Russell Martin’s team in a derby semi-final at Hampden.

The Celtic boss reflected on the league meeting between the sides before the international break, when neither team created many chances and a dull stalemate was the result. That took place in the aftermath of a disappointing Champions League exit and Rodgers hopes that a run of positive results and form can see his team arrive at the national stadium in better form.

“Whatever team you play in the semi-final, going to Hampden, I think that was important for us to get back there,” the manager said.

“There are a lot of games between now and then and hopefully we can build the rhythm and keep growing and arrive in a good place for the semi.

“I said it at the time, for both teams, Ibrox wasn’t a great game, to be honest. My only worry is Celtic, but we weren’t in our best place, even though in other times, if you go to Ibrox and you get a point, it might be deemed okay.

“For me, it was just about trusting the team and trusting how we work. More importantly, trusting the players, which I do, and I can see the fluency starting to arrive.”

The Celtic boss was able to look back on a comfortable afternoon at Firhill, where goals from Yang, Liam Scales, Sebastian Tounekti and Luke McCowan sealed a place in the final four.

“I thought we played very well,” Rodgers said. “Partick have been in really, really good form, really consistent over this last number of weeks.

“These can be really tricky games, but I thought we handled it really well.

“The football was really good and intense. We scored goals, we were aggressive when we didn’t have the ball and it was a really professional performance.”