Everything Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers said to the media following their 6-0 Scottish League Cup semi-final victory over Aberdeen.
What are your opinions about that performance and outcome? Yeah, it was a fantastic result and effort against an Aberdeen team that has been so strong this season in the league.
And we understood how difficult it would be, so we knew we needed to perform well in all aspects of our game today. I think it’s a testament to the players’ mentality and how vicious they were during the game. So, yes, that was a nice one.
You discussed constructing the game a few weeks earlier, as well as Aberdeen’s comeback, prior to the game. Were the players aware that this could happen again?
I believe what we said was that if Aberdeen are allowed to play, they have the ability to score goals. I believe we’ve seen that all season, with the last time being a few weeks ago. But it’s all about learning, and I believe we’ve learnt that if you give them time, they can play. They have some gifted technical players. You have strikers and wingers that want to run in behind and cause you difficulties. So we have to keep that under control. I believed our counter-pressing was effective. It helped us get the ball back a lot. Then, especially in the second half, we moved the ball much faster. Good statistics on the inside; moved the ball.
How delighted were you with Daizen Maeda’s hat-trick in the end? I think it’s excellent that he’s there. He breaks away for the goal, which also sets up Kyogo. He anticipates it and goes away. It is what we train them to do in order to advance to the second post. You need to be there, wingers. You have to make the runs. You have to do the work. If you do that, you will receive your reward. So, certainly, it is a wonderful day for him to score a hat-trick in a semifinal.
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