Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers motivated by Scottish Cup final defeat to Aberdeen

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers admits he sought to find strength for his team from a rare cup final disappointment as they prepare to face Scottish Cup holders Aberdeen.

The Premiership champions travel to Pittodrie for the second league game of the season, having lost to the Dons at Hampden in May.

Aberdeen’s late equaliser and penalty shoot-out triumph prevented Rodgers winning a third treble as Celtic manager and ended skipper Callum McGregor’s perfect record in cup finals.

“The cup final was clearly hard to lose, because you know the disappointment that it gives so many people,” Rodgers said.

“I also know the players had given everything throughout the course of the season and how they felt at the end of the game. I felt sad for them, because we were on the verge of winning a treble and having a fantastic season in Europe, scoring all the goals that we did. And then it ends in not a nice way.

“However, sometimes it’s your turn to lose. And you’ve just got to make sure that next time going forward that the attitude is right and that you bring that style of football that brings us success.

“We’d done really, really well against Aberdeen in many of the games last season. The cup final, we didn’t play well. And I said at the time, and I’ll repeat, we can’t complain. If we didn’t play as well as what we wanted to, then that’s what can happen. You can win a game or lose a game. So we lost it.

“And it’s hard to accept, especially it was my first final I lost myself as a coach. For some of the players, it was as well. And it’s all part of the game.

“So it’s a huge disappointment that sits with you for a bit of time. But the job of being a leader is to move on and find strength from it and push on.

“And that’s what we’ve done over pre-season. You have to renew the motivation. This club moves quickly. It’s a fast-moving club. You have to move on quickly to look forward to this season and get into your stride as quick as you can.

“So there’s always many ways to motivate. Obviously losing a cup final, it just lets you know that you cannot just turn up and win a game. And I think what it showed against Aberdeen, I see how many times we did turn up and play ever so well and play the way we did. So for this, this will be a tough game for us.

“And now we have to renew the motivation all again. I’m excited by going up to Pittodrie. It’s always a tough place to go. But I’m looking forward to seeing us play there.”

Having lost their opening league game against Hearts, Aberdeen manager Jimmy Thelin is looking for progress.

Thelin said: “It’s a new game, a new season, and we believe in the things we have practised on and try to evolve in our team.

“They have some new players also, but still it’s a clear identity what they want to do so we have to be ready. I hope we can keep progressing now during the season.”