Brendan Rodgers hits out at the Celtic cynics as he claims nobody in Scotland can match Hoops for one thing

Brendan Rodgers believes Celtic are held to higher standards than any other club in Scotland after his side overcame a dogged Livingston to reach the semi-final of the Scottish Cup with a 4-2 win.

The Hoops looked on their way to a last-four place as Japanese striker Daizen Maeda netted either side of an equaliser from Livi winger Daniel MacKay to give his side a narrow lead at half-time. The visitors would not let Celtic out of sight and they grabbed their second equaliser of the day in the second-half when Tete Yengi beat Joe Hart.

After surviving some anxious moments, the Hoops finally broke Livi’s resistance when Maeda completed a hat-trick four minutes from time before a Kyogo Furuhashi goal deep in injury-time ended any doubt over which side will take their place in Monday’s semi-final draw.

Rodgers was left somewhat underwhelmed by his side’s performance as they were made to work for their win - but stressed there is ‘probably not another team in the country’ that are held accountable for their results and performances to the level of Celtic.

Speaking to BBC, he said: "It was too easy for them at times. We gave away so much space, that was the downside to the performance. In fairness to them they exploited it with two really good goals, and we weren't good enough in those moments. We always want to perform. There's probably not another team in the country that's held up to winning and performing. Other teams will grind it out and get a result, we know we have to win and play well. We didn't play well today, little patches were OK, but we won and we're into the semi-final. That makes me very happy."

Celtic will now turn their attention towards their bid to retain the Premiership title when they host St Johnstone next Saturday afternoon and long-serving winger James Forrest could feature in that game after he came off the bench to replace the injured Nicolas Kuhn.

Rodgers, who revealed the former Rapid Vienna wideman had suffered from cramp, went on to laud Forrest for his ability and described the 38-times capped Scotland international as ‘a fantastic player’.

He said: ”With the quality he's got, James is the best winger we have. With the greatest respect to the others, but in terms of the intensity we ask for in the game, constant runs, constant pressure (he's the best). Sadly age catches up with every player and every person but he still has a contribution to make and you saw that today when he came on for the final 20 or 25 minutes.

"You see the level of quality he has, especially when we are sustaining the attacks and there's not so much running to do. He's a fantastic player and just seeing his quality on the ball was good."