'The better team won': Brendan Rodgers disappointed with Celtic's derby defeat to Rangers

Brendan Rodgers admitted his Celtic side were second-best in their 3-0 defeat to Rangers at Ibrox and said the team had put in a performance that lacked a cutting edge.

Rangers took an early lead through Ianis Hagi, with Robin Propper and Danilo adding goals in the second half as the hosts shrugged off their recent poor form to punish mistakes and cut the gap at the top of the table to 11 points.

Rodgers had no complaints about the scoreline and said that there was something missing from his side as they put in an uncharacteristically lacklustre display.

“I thought the best team won,” the Celktic manager said.

“They had the edge in the game that we never had. We started okay in the first few minutes but made too many mistakes with the ball today.

“It was a mistake that gave them the first goal and a lift and from that we never really responded.

“Really disappointed with the performance and the result.”

Celtic had gone into the game as favourites after an impressive run of results that had seen them build a healthy lead in the title race but Rodgers felt the hosts perhaps had a point to prove after their own struggles and that had contributed to the energy about their performance.

In contrast, his own side didn’t show their usual sharpness, to their cost.

“I said before the game it wouldn’t matter if we were 50 points clear,” Rodgers said. “Celtic vs Rangers is everything for our supporters and people.

“But we never played with that edge today and that personality the team has shown consistently.

“As a collective we weren’t quite there. Very passive, which is unlike us and we got punished for it.

“We didn’t control the midfield. Too many slack passes and we gave the ball away too easily. It’s one of the games you have to look at. It’s not nice, especially when your supporters are watching that but we have to analyse it and do better.”

The manager said that while he would go over the defeat in detail and look to learn from it, he was also aware that his side’s efforts in the season so far had put them in a good position overall.

“I can look at it from two perspectives,” he said. “I can analyse the game today and see that we weren’t very good and accept that the better team won.

“In the bigger picture we’ve reached the halfway point in the season 11 points clear and the players have been absolutely first class up until this point in so many ways. This setback today you can learn from.

“This is a little reminder of what it takes to win a game.”