Scott Brown, the Celtic captain, believes that the Parkhead side spooked Rangers so much at Ibrox that Pedro Caixinha’s side couldn’t wait to get rid of the ball.
Brendan Rodgers’ side were rampant throughout a 5-1 win, a result that could well have stretched significantly wider given the manner in which Celtic dominated the 90 minutes.
Speaking to Celtic TV, brown said: “From start to finish the lads showed their qualities and showed their strength. At the end we ended up making Rangers kick the ball long every single time.
“That was their philosophy and they struggled to keep playing the way they wanted to because of our pressure, our fitness and our quality on the ball.
“When we turn up, we are better than any team in Scotland and we done it yet again. We came to our supposed nearest rivals and we showed them how good we are on their own turf.
“The lads are all outstanding. It is a proper team game and there are no individuals in our squad and it shows the togetherness we have. We are all there celebrating together, we score a goal we are all together, and when we defend we are all together.”
Brown was cleared to play in last weekend’s William Hill Scottish Cup final as well as Saturday’s game at Ibrox after appealing and subsequently winning a red-card from an Easter Sunday clash at Dingwall. The dismissal from a lunge on Liam Boyce was downgraded to a yellow last week at an SFA disciplinary meeting, rendering Brown eligible to exert his influence throughout the win at Ibrox.
“For me it was great to win the appeal because it was never a red card. It wouldn’t have mattered if I was playing or someone else because we have top quality players on the bench who can come on and change games and create chances. That is why we score goals at the end because of the fitness levels.”
Brown will down tools now as he serves a two-match suspension. His sanction will be married into a holiday, a scenario that was always on the case. Brown’s involvement for Scotland against England on June 10th means that he will have a brief summer break, with Brendan Rodgers revealing some weeks ago that the player was set for time off during the season.
The midfielder, though, has maintained that Celtic will not ease off in their forthcoming league outings. Rodgers has been relentless in his repetition of his desire that Celtic maintain the level they set for themselves this term and with the final of the William Hill Scottish Cup to come later this month, he wants his side to keep their focus.
“We need to keep going,” said Brown. “The gaffer wants us to get better week in, week out. There are five games left and we need to maintain the level we are playing at for as long as we possibly can.”
Meanwhile, reports in African have claimed that Celtic are set to offer 19-year-old Nigerian striker, Stephen Odey a trial.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel