Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers reveals message to players before gritty Old Firm win over Rangers
Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers has spoken out after his side's 1-0 win over Rangers
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Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers has revealed he told players he 'needed his men' before his side's narrow 1-0 win over Rangers.
Kyogo Furuhashi scored the only goal of the game, with the 28-year-old breaking the deadlock before half time.
Rangers had two goals disallowed during the match but Celtic are now top of the Scottish Premiership after stunning their rivals at Ibrox.
And Rodgers, speaking to BBC Scotland, has now revealed the message he gave to his players before their victory.
Kyogo Furuhashi scored the only goal of the game as Celtic beat Rangers at Ibrox
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"It's a massive result for the squad when you consider virtually half the team is unavailable," he said.
"I said to them before the game that I need my men today.
"You need to come here, with 50,000 baying for blood, you need to come and play like a man, even though you're really young players.
"We had chances to score before we did, but we forced one or two passes.
"It's a great finish from Kyogo, and it puts us in a position that I thought we deserved at half-time.
"The players stood up. The two centre-halves - Liam Scales was outstanding today. It's a fantastic win for us.
"A lot of the new players needed that big win to feel what the intensity is like at a club like Celtic.
"Second half, we had to show resilience and fight. To come here, keep a clean sheet, and win with not one supporter in the stadium is a brilliant win."
Rodgers insists Celtic must improve if they're to retain their Scottish Premiership crown, however.
And the Northern-Irishman also feels VAR's decision to disallow a goal from Kemar Roofe was the right one, too.
"We had controlled the game up until that point, so I would have been disappointed." he said.
"Obviously Gustaf [Lagerbielke] has to be quicker getting his passes away, but it looks like he's just been nicked from behind.
"Rangers will probably say it was never a foul, but there's enough officials looking at it, and they obviously deemed it to be a foul.
"It's still very early in the season. You don't win anything in September.
"We've just got to stay calm. This is a very young group that's missing some influential players at the moment.
"Once we get them back, they're only going to get better. In spells we've looked good, but it's nowhere near where I want us to be."
As for Rangers boss Michael Beale, the 42-year-old felt his side deserved something from the game.
"It's been a rough week. Today, I thought the performance merited more in the game," he said.
"I thought we started the game quite well - obviously we score an offside goal, and then the VAR call.
"Having seen it back, he kicks Cyriel [Dessers], so I think it's a harsh call. I think that's one that's gone against us, but there's a lot of time to play in the game.
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Rangers boss Michael Beale felt his side deserved something from their defeat to Celtic
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"The goal is an error on our part, a huge error, and second half, we pushed and pushed, but you'd like us to be more inventive and ruthless, because the chances were there.
"It's a desperately disappointing day for everybody. We're behind them, and we have a lot of catching up to do. I thought we were strong in the game.
"There's areas we can improve on, but we had the moments - we were in front of Joe Hart two or three times and our last pass or shot wasn't good enough.
"That's where the frustration is. We have to come back stronger after the international break."
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