RODGERS LAUGHS OFF ‘LUCKY’ CLAIM

CQN Magazine

6 years ago

BRENDAN RODGERS laughed off claims from Barry Ferguson that Celtic relied on good luck to win 3-2 at Ibrox last weekend.

The Hoops boss dismissed the thoughts of the former Sevco Rangers skipper – and insisted even the Govan club’s wouldn’t agree with his summing-up.

Rodgers said: “Listen, Barry Ferguson is someone I don’t know. I’ve never met him, so I can’t comment on him. I only know him as a player and I had great respect for him as a player.

“He clearly is very much Rangers, which I respect, and a Celtic win can hurt very much.

“But I think most supporters – and I mean both sides – would admire our team, how we won and would not say we were lucky.

“In any game of football there is always an element of luck. But I would think even their supporters wouldn’t say that, if you look at how we played and what we had to go through in the game.”

Ferguson even insisted, somewhat ludicrously, the champions were fortunate to have central defender Jozo Simunovic red-carded because it created a siege mentality.

Rodgers scoffed at the bizarre notion and pointed out it was no accident his side coped with going down to 10 men.

He said: “That’s the third time in the 20 months I have been up here when we’ve gone down to 10 men.

“They were all away – at Pittodrie, Hamilton and Ibrox.

“In those matches, over the course of the time we were down to 10 men, it has been 94 minutes, so virtually a game and extra-time we’ve played with 10 men.

“And in those games, when we were down a man, we scored four goals and conceded none. I don’t think that’s luck.”

The Parkhead gaffer, preparing his team for tomorrow’s confrontation with Motherwell at Fir Park, added: “It was a great game, we had to show fighting qualities, we were up against it through our own mistakes.

“If you look at their two goals, the first one was a mistake from us and the second wasn’t the best defending when a cross comes in, but then, really, there was nothing.

“All they had was the Alfredo Morelos opportunity which he should score

“The victory was sweet because of many elements of the win. Our preparation and tactics for the game, the adversity the players went through makes these types of wins even better.
“It was a great atmosphere, real hostility, and so to come through that and show solidarity and quality to win the game was so satisfying.”

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