Brendan Rodgers blanks Aberdeen win over Rangers and swears Celtic will reap rewards from the Dons

Brendan Rodgers believes Aberdeen’s thrilling thrust will help drive Celtic forward.

And the Parkhead boss insists his troops have huge hunger to get their hands back onto the Premier Sports Cup. Rodgers’ side face Jimmy Thelin’s men in the semi-final with the sides separated only on goal difference at the top of the Premiership. Celtic and Aberdeen’sonly points dropped in ten top-flight games were to each other following a see-saw 2-2 draw in Glasgow a fortnight ago.

Thelin’s team are pushing and beat Rangers in midweek, although Rodgers revealed he hasn’t watched the game. Asked if it was good for Scottish football to see the Reds performing to a high level, Rodgers said: “Yeah, I think it is brilliant. I think it’s great. Whether it is football, or whether it is business, any competition is healthy and it’s what makes you better. You will always drive your own standards and your own standard of performance, absolutely. But competition is really, really healthy and can keep moving you forward.

“And Aberdeen are up there fighting as well, and everyone will expect Rangers to be there at some point, there will be other teams, big clubs from Edinburgh will feel they want to be up there challenging as well. So I think the more competitive, then, of course, that can improve you.”

Aberdeen’s form isn’t a surprise to Rodgers as he said: “No, it’s a great credit to them. In their first 10 league games, they have played with that consistency and done really well, have really good players.

“Jimmy has done a fantastic job and good coaching staff behind the scenes, too. I always expect Aberdeen because of my first time up here to be up there challenging. In Derek’s [McInnes] time, he had a great period, so I always expect them to