‘We played with heart’ – Rodgerspublished at 15:52 British Summer Time
15:52 BST
FT: Aberdeen 0-2 Celtic
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers tells BBC Scotland: “Very pleased. This was always going to be a challenging game in the context of how the last season finished and coming here so early in Aberdeen’s first [home] game.
“But I thought we controlled it really well. We had a lot of really good moments in the game, scored two outstanding goals. Had a few other opportunities to score. Their keeper makes a great save.
“And then when we had to defend, which you do, you can never dominate 100% of the game. But in those moments we defended very, very well and were strong.
“I’m so pleased for the players. The last season would have hurt them. They had a fantastic season last season.
“But we come here today, we play with quality, we play with heart and we get the result.
“I’m really pleased for Benji [Nygren]. That’s why we signed him. He’s a player with a record of scoring goals from midfields or wide areas. But we see him very much as an eight. He can move well, he can take the ball in tight spaces and he can get in the box. It’s really nice for him to get that goal.
“And the second goal, we played out the pressure really well. And then we’ve done what we’ve done up here a few times.”
On Kieran Tierney’s second-half substitution: “He was actually sick at half-time, but he wanted to give it a go. But he’s given us a really good hour in the game, created the first goal, and we know that it’s just about building his football fitness up, and then you can really see the qualities he gives us.”
Image source, SNS