Following Sunday’s victory against Premiership opponents Livingston in the Scottish Cup quarterfinal, the Celtic boss shared his thoughts.

After his team defeated a tenacious Livingston 4-2 to go to the Scottish Cup semi-final, Brendan Rodgers feels that Celtic is held to greater standards than any other club in Scotland.

Japanese striker Daizen Maeda gave the Hoops a slim lead at halftime, following an equalizer from Livi winger Daniel MacKay, and they were headed for a last-four spot. Tete Yengi’s goal in the second half gave the visitors their second equalizer of the match as they continued to press Celtic. Joe Hart was no match for the visitors.

After a few nervous moments, the Hoops eventually broke through Livi’s defense when Maeda scored a hat-trick four minutes remaining. Any uncertainty about who would advance to Monday’s semi-final draw was then eliminated by a goal deep into injury time from Kyogo Furuhashi.

Though he underlined that “probably not another team in the country” is held accountable for their results and performances to the level of Celtic, Rodgers was slightly disappointed with his team’s performance given that they had to work hard for their victory.

He said in an interview with the BBC: “They sometimes had it too easy. The performance suffered from giving out too much space. To be fair to them, we let two excellent goals go away from us, and they took advantage of it. Our desire to perform is constant. Perhaps no other team in the nation has been able to compete and win as well. We know we need to win and play well, but other teams will persevere and obtain the outcome. Even though we didn’t play well today—some of our plays were passable—we still won and advanced to the semifinals. That gives me much pleasure.”

James Forrest, a veteran winger who replaced the injured Nicolas Kuhn on the bench, may play in Celtic’s upcoming Saturday afternoon Premiership match against St Johnstone. Celtic will now focus on their attempt to win the league again.

After disclosing that the former Wideman for Rapid Vienna had experienced cramps, Rodgers praised Forrest’s skill and called the Scotland international, who had received 38 caps, “a fantastic player.”

“With his quality, James is the best winger we have,” he declared. As much respect as I have for the others, but when it comes to the kind of intensity we need in the game—continuous runs, constant pressure—he’s the best. He still has something to offer, as you saw when he entered the game for the last twenty or twenty-five minutes. Unfortunately, age catches up with everyone, including athletes.

“You can see how good he is, especially when we are maintaining the assault and don’t need to run as much. It was impressive to witness his skill with the ball. He is an incredible player.”