Brendan Rodgers: 'There's always a narrative after Old Firm games but we just focus on winning'

Brendan Rodgers says there is “always a narrative” after Old Firm games but insists his side just focus on winning and continuing their success.

The Celtic manager has now been in the dugout for 20 games against Rangers, losing just one, with the most recent ending in a penalty shootout win in the League Cup final.

In the week since Sunday’s Hampden clash, the main talking point has been the decision not to award Rangers a penalty early in extra-time when Vaclav Cerny was pulled down by Liam Scales at the edge of the box.

Referee chief Willie Collum has admitted that the wrong call was made with the Ibrox club also hitting out in a statement.

But Rodgers hasn’t focused too much on the fallout as he turns his attention to taking on Dundee United at Tannadice on Sunday.

Speaking to the media on Friday he cited other examples of similar situations, including in January when the big talking point was a handball by Alistair Johnston that wouldn’t have been awarded as a penalty in any case due to an offside in the build up.

He said: “I’ve only seen little bits of it as I’ve been busy doing other things, but it doesn’t surprise me. I’ve been involved in 20 games (against Rangers) now and there’s always a narrative of something after the game.

“Whether it is about someone should have been sent off or not, whether it was a goal or not or whether it was a penalty or not, even if the penalty was offside, so all these things always get thrown into the mix.

“So I don’t really think too much about it to be honest, it’s there, it’s a talking point. But my only interest was for us to come out of Hampden with the trophy.

“Winning is hard, and sometimes here it is maybe made to feel like it’s something easy, but it’s never easy and it’s certainly not easy to do repetitively.

“What this team has done, if you think about it, over the calendar year we have only lost twice. One of those games we were down to ten-men and the other was when we were up against Champions League finalists Borussia Dortmund who outclassed us on the night.

“But the mental strength and consistency levels show what this team has achieved and I think the supporters appreciate that, and that’s the most important thing.

“As I say, there’s always a narrative around these games but what’s most important for us is to go and win the game, and that’s what we did.”

With no midweek football for the Hoops, Rodgers and his staff rewarded the players for their efforts with a few days off and the manager believes it’s always important to celebrate success whenever possible.

He said: “It’s always a great feeling to win an epic game like that, the players did so well so it was a nice feeling for them and for everyone.

“Celebrating success and victories at the right moment is always important, otherwise why do you do it? So it was important, especially with the free week that we could do that.

“So we gave them a couple of days to recover physically and mentally and to enjoy the victory and then we’ve been hard at work from there.

“We now draw a line under it and look towards our next game.”

Celtic have also been linked with a January move for former fan favourite Kieran Tierney, who looks likely to be on his way out of Arsenal five years since making the move to London in a record-breaking £25m deal.

While Rodgers admits he is a fan of the Scotland defender he remained tight-lipped on the possibility of a return.

He said: “We will always be linked with top players, especially players who are one of us. Kieran was an instrumental part of a really successful period here and his talents then took him to another challenge in the Premier League.

“We will be linked with a lot of names, Kieran naturally because of his situation, but we will only ever tell you we have signed a player once he has signed.”

Veteran Celtic winger James Forrest, who moved joint with legendary forward Bobby Lennox as the most decorated player in the club’s history with his 25th medal on Sunday, has been ruled out for about six weeks after picking up an injury in the win over Rangers.

Rodgers continued: “James will be out for around six weeks, he took a blow in the game and showed great courage to carry on and we will miss him for up to that length of time.”