Brendan Rodgers savoured his latest slaying of a Rangers boss as Philippe Clement became his FIFTH Old Firm victim.
The Celtic gaffer racked up his 12th win in 15 Glasgow derbies with a 2-1 victory over their biggest rivals at Parkhead. Clement’s side went into yesterday's game in terrific form having gone 16 games unbeaten since the Belgian’s arrival at Ibrox. But Rodgers says whenever there is talk of a stronger challenge from across the city - his team regularly produce the goods. He’s now beaten five permanent Rangers managers over his two spells in charge - Mark Warburton, Pedro Caixinha, Steven Gerrard, Michael Beale and Clement.
He also got the better of temporary boss Graeme Murty during his previous spell at the Hoops. And after his side moved eight points clear at the top of the Premiership table, Rodgers said: “Over my two spells here I’ve worked against five Rangers managers. Every time, Rangers were coming. Every time, at some point. So for me this is normal. If I listened to the media, then we would be in constant crisis mode and constant fear of Rangers.
“But it’s their fifth manager now. So for me, my focus is only ever on Celtic and concentrating very much on here. A lot of the stuff that maybe goes on around it, thankfully I ignore.
“We showed today that with a team still missing key players - and players who will make the difference for us - that we are competitive and can play good football. That’s what we will continue to do.
“There is no doubt Philippe has improved Rangers. He has come in, used his experience and common sense to set the team up well.
“They are competitive and they play as a team. So we knew it was going to be a challenge for us. But we had to be super brave. We had to take on the
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Rangers
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Brendan Rodgers
Steven Gerrard
Mark Warburton
Philippe Clement
Michael Beale
Pedro Caixinha