Rodgers revels in Old Firm glory and insists Celtic 'will get stronger'
Brendan Rodgers outlined his impressive Old Firm credentials after Celtic handed Philippe Clement his first defeat as Rangers boss with a 2-1 win at Parkhead.
The Belgian was unbeaten in 16 games since taking over from Michael Beale in October, which offered encouragement travelling to the east end of Glasgow - albeit with no away fans in the stadium due to a ticket dispute between the two clubs.
Celtic had stumbled recently with defeats against Kilmarnock and Hearts but goals from midfielder Paulo Bernardo and striker Kyogo Furuhashi came before Rangers defender Leon Balogun was sent off for denying Daizen Maeda a clear goalscoring opportunity.
Gers skipper James Tavernier fired in a free-kick in the 88th minute to make it a nervy ending for the home side, who held on to move eight points clear having played two games more.
Rodgers has now won 12 and lost just one of his 15 Old Firm derbies, having faced five permanent Rangers managers - Clement, Beale, Steven Gerrard, Mark Warburton and Pedro Caixinha.
"Over my two spells here I have worked against five Rangers managers and every time Rangers were coming," said Rodgers, who revealed defender Stephen Welsh injured a shoulder before he was taken off.
"So for me it's normal. If I listened to media and press then we would be in constant crisis mode and constant fear of Rangers.
"But it's the fifth manager now. So for me my focus is only on Celtic and concentrating very much on here and a lot of the stuff that maybe does go around, thankfully I ignore it.
"We showed today that with a team still missing key players, and players who will make the difference for us, that we are competitive and we can play football and we can compete. And that is what we will continually do.
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