BRENDAN Rodgers last night hailed his Celtic side’s second Ladbrokes Premiership triumph as even better than the first after a record league win over Rangers at Parkhead.
A first-half Odsonne Edouard double and goals from James Forrest, Tom Rogic and Callum McGregor ensured the Glasgow club romped to a 5-0 triumph over their city rivals and were crowned Scottish champions for the seventh year running.
Rodgers’s men went undefeated in 47 of their domestic fixtures in the 2016/17 campaign - a feat which led to them being dubbed The Invincibles.
Read more: Neil Cameron: Celtic were so dominant that they could have scored seven against Rangers
However, the Northern Irishman, whose side can become the first in history to complete back-to-back trebles if they defeat Motherwell in the William Hill Scottish Cup final at Hampden next month, believes this success tops that.
“This title this year is definitely better than last, even though we went unbeaten last year,” he said.
“I think probably when I came in last year there was expectation of course. But to have had that season and then come in again this season with very little break and go and perform like we’ve done, playing a number of games under pressure, we have done that very, very well."
Rodgers added: “We obviously knew the consequence of the game and all the historical facts around it - Celtic to win it here against Rangers for the first time in 39 years.
“I don’t think I could have asked any more of the players, they were absolutely brilliant. And I’m really proud."
McGregor put Celtic five goals in front when he scored in the 53rd minute and hopes were high among the home supporters they could top their best ever win over Rangers - the 7-1 triumph they recorded in the League Cup final in 1957.
Rodgers confessed his side should have scored more goals. “We should have done," he said. "We should have had seven but, like I say, we’ll take five."
Rodgers praised Edouard, the French striker who is on loan from Paris Saint-Germain until the end of the season, and stressed he was hopeful Celtic, who have a £7 million option to buy him, could hold onto him.
Asked what chance Celtic had of keeping him, he said: “A very, very good chance, hopefully. He wants to be here. It will be a case of hopefully getting an agreement with Paris Saint-Germain. We will finish the season and then see where we are with that. He’s a brilliant player.
"I think some were questioning his ability when he first came but this is a player who was brought in for a reason. He is 20, he has everything - and I mean everything."
Meanwhile, Rodgers admitted that he would be looking for Celtic to perform even better next season. "It’s very important that if you want sustain it you have to have that hunger and intensity. Today we scored five and it was probably going on seven or eight, their keeper made some great saves.
“It’s a great tribute to the work of the players, given the scrutiny they are under, to perform like that."
Why are you making commenting on HeraldScotland 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 here