Joe Hart 'real catalyst' for Celtic as Brendan Rodgers sends 'inner voice' message

Brendan Rodgers has hailed Joe Hart as one of Celtic's big leaders as he named him a 'real catalyst' for the champions.

The Hoops are still in hunt to win a double this season after dumping St Mirren on the road in the Scottish Cup to make it eight wins and one draw in the last nine games, despite a number of injuries to key men including Greg Taylor, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Reo Hatate and Alistair Johnston. Veteran No1 Hart is out of contract in the summer - but has been vital of late for the league leaders with his boss and supporters full of praise.

The 36-year-old made vital late saves in the draw with Aberdeen at Pittodrie and the victory over Hibs at Easter Road in the league while he also kept the Buddies out last weekend in the Scottish Cup last 16 to set up a quarter-final clash with Livingston. Rangers are just three points behind in the title race, with their game in hand on Wednesday night against Ross County. It's a season full of twist and turns already with many more to come and Rodgers reckons his shot stopper and captain Callum McGregor have been the driving forces behind shutting out the pressure piled on the Parkhead men.

The Hoops boss said: “Joe doesn’t have a lot to do but the times he does he makes wonderful saves. He’s a real catalyst for the team with the way him and Cal lead the dressing room.

"The saves he makes are so impressive. There were lots of crosses the other day, lots of balls into the box. But he was very clean. You always want keepers to catch but if they can’t then there’s lot of distance on it. He did that very well more than a few times.

“It was another clean sheet for him and that was important. Joe’s a very experienced player. But we control the voice of the team inside the