“I don’t think the scoreline reflected the game and the dominance,” Brendan Rodgers | OneFootball

Brendan Rodgers gave his assessment to the media last night of Celtic’s narrow 2-1 victory over Kilmarnock in the Scottish Cup fourth round as the Irishman looks ahead to Wednesday’s must-win Champions League encounter…

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers iat full time during the Scottish Cup Fourth Round match between Celtic and Kilmarnock at Celtic Park on January 18, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

The Hoops booked their place in the last 16 of the oldest cup competition in football defeating a well-organised Killie side at Celtic Park yesterday evening.

Callum McGregor celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the Scottish Cup Fourth Round match between Celtic and Kilmarnock at Celtic Park on January 18, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Skipper Callum McGregor’s powerful drive into the bottom right-hand corner was cancelled out by Bobby Wales’ controversial equaliser for the visitors on the stroke of half-time. However, like so often this season, the ever-reliable Daizen Maeda popped up with the winning goal sliding the ball past substitute Killie goalkeeper Kieran O’Hara to relieve any stress in the stadium.

Daizen Maeda celebrates scoring Celtic’s second goal during the Scottish Cup Fourth Round match between Celtic and Kilmarnock at Celtic Park on January 18, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

After the game, Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers praised his side for their resilience and perseverance to overcome Derek McInnes’ men who made it a difficult task for the current Scottish Cup holders.

Q: I’m sure you feel that you deserved it as well, but Kilmarnock pushed you, didn’t they?

Brendan Rodgers: “Yeah, listen, I don’t think the scoreline reflected the game and the dominance in the game but of course when you don’t finish your chances and opportunities then you know that. Kilmarnock are a team that can hurt you. You know, they play a pressure game, the ball goes up, you’ve got to be strong, good throw-ins into the box, and one of the goals comes from a throw-in on the side that we didn’t defend well enough. Overall, I’m pleased with the appetite of the team and how we responded to the 1-1 because we had so many chances and the game should have been dead and buried by half-time.”

Q: Were you frustrated that you hadn’t achieved that but maybe a spell wouldn’t come on if they’d managed to get up the pitch and maybe give you a bit of pressure there?

Brendan Rodgers: “Well, I think that’s what you know, no matter your dominance, no matter the number of chances you have when the score line’s tight, and if a team has a little spell, then you have to just stay calm and deal with it. I thought the players dealt with it well.”

Q: It’s not often a team comes here though and comes out like that. Were you surprised by that at all?

Brendan Rodgers: “No. no, I think that Derek’s team and when we won 2-0 a few months back on the astroturf, they were very aggressive, getting to the ball and it was a similar tactic. I thought we played through it well today, the pitch and the size of the pitch helped us get through that pressure well and just gave us so many opportunities in on goal that we didn’t capitalise on.”

Q: You’re through, which is ultimately what you want. You got minutes into the legs of Daizen Maeda and Nicholas Kuhn. How do you now prepare for what’s a massive opportunity for you coming up in midweek?

Brendan Rodgers: “Yeah, well, we will recover from this game and analyse the areas that can be better. I thought it was a good test for us to go into that game with the greatest respect for other teams. We had to be physical today; we had to work for the result and that gives us good preparation for Wednesday’s game. So, we need to recover, we’ll design a plan for that game and then it should be an incredible evening here and we’ll look forward to it.”

Q: You know, if you win that game, you’re pretty much guaranteed to progress. It must be exciting for the group, isn’t it?

Brendan Rodgers: “Yeah, because we’ve worked very well in the Champions League this season. We’ve had one game where we got punished heavily by a top-class team. So, okay, we have had to accept that and learn from it which the players have done but, especially, at home, we’ve been very good and away from home we’ve picked up some valuable points. So that puts us in a great position now with the crowd and the team and everyone synchronised on Wednesday it should be an incredible night and hopefully we can then get a performance and a result to match.”

Conor Spence

Kasper Schmeichel protests after Bobby Wales scores during the Scottish Cup Fourth Round match between Celtic and Kilmarnock at Celtic Park on January 18, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

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