Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers vowed his team will be ready to atone for their new year defeat by Rangers after they secured a comfortable win over Hibs in the Scottish Cup.
Goals towards the end of each half by Daizen Maeda and Adam Idah earned a 2-0 win which sent Celtic into tomorrow’s semi-final draw.
Kasper Schmeichel pulled off a good save from Kieron Bowie with the game goalless but that was the only shot on target the visitors managed — and Hibs had goalkeeper Jordan Smith to thank for keeping them in the tie for so long.
Asked if the recent defeat at Easter Road had been an extra motivation, Rodgers said: ‘We have to analyse it and see where we can be better. And we were that right from the first whistle, right to the end.
‘Concentration was really, really good. Competitive, aggressive, strong. Win the first balls, second balls, and then we look to play.’
Celtic lost 3-0 at Ibrox on January 2 and Rodgers is clear in his mind about what went wrong that day ahead of this Sunday’s derby at Parkhead.
Brendan Rodgers says Rangers ‘stole’ Celtic’s game when the teams met at Ibrox in January
Striker Daizen Maeda celebrates scoring the opening goal in Celtic’s 2-0 victory against Hibs
Adam Idah seals his team’s place in the Scottish Cup semi-finals with a late goal at Celtic Park
‘Listen, we were well beat on the day,’ he said. ‘Rangers stole our game that day.
‘That’s normally how we play and how we do, but they took it from us and deserved the win. But we will be ready for the demands of that game.
‘Rangers stole our game that day. That’s normally how we play and how we do, but they took it from us and deserved the win. But we will be ready for the demands of that game.
But we will be ready for the demands of that game.
‘I said before I’d never had the team really like that in any of those games.
‘So the demands that are needed to play in that game, we will be ready for them next week like we were in the first game (a 3-0 win).
‘You want to win every game. That’s always our mindset and especially those games.
‘We’ve won those well and not always playing brilliant football all the time.
‘But on that day, maybe because we were 14 points clear and we’re in a good position in the league, it just maybe softened us up a wee bit.
‘But definitely we didn’t meet the demands of what you need in that game and how my teams play with intensity and physicality.
‘So now we arrive in this game in an even better place than what we were there. But we will be in a different way and sometimes you need that.
‘Sometimes you need that setback to make you think that you have to do the work.
‘And these players, what they’ve given over the course of this season, the demands that they’ve met at every level, the consistency, the mentality, the professionalism, the quality, has put us in this amazing position with a semi-final now to look forward to and nine games left in the league.’
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