Brendan Rodgers and Celtic 'won't take Aberdeen lightly' as Philippe Clement explains Rangers stars' absence
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Celtic and Rangers were both involved in Scottish Premiership action last night - the Celts eased past Dundee at Parkhead, but Rangers hit yet another stumbling block when they were defeated by Aberdeen at Pittodrie Stadium. What is circulating in the rumour mill around Scotland’s top division today?
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Hide AdBrendan Rodgers has stressed he will not be taking Aberdeen ‘lightly’ when they square off with the Dons in the semi finals of the Scottish League Cup - meanwhile, Rangers manager Philippe Clement has explained the absences of two Gers players.
Brendan Rodgers praises Aberdeen ahead of League Cup semi-final clash
Celtic will clash with Aberdeen in the semi finals of the Scottish League Cup on Saturday - and Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers is fully aware of the gravity of the task.
On the Dons’ victory over Rangers last night, Rodgers said: “Listen, Aberdeen have had a fantastic start. That's a really good result for them. But as I'm sure you can respect, my focus is very much on Celtic.
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Hide Ad“Our guys have made a brilliant start also, in terms of how they've been playing, the goals they've been scoring, secure defensively in the main and in a really good position in the Champions League. But it's still so early. My first marker is after 10 games. And if I look at it after 10 games, then we've made a really good start. Aberdeen are there as well, but there's still such a long way to go.
“Semi-finals are always great occasions. I love going to Hampden and we're in a really good place going there. We've got players coming back and hopefully it'll be a really exciting game.”
Philippe Clement explains absences of Vaclav Cerny and Jefte
As mentioned earlier, Rangers were beaten by Aberdeen last night - however, they were not at full strength, as the Light Blues were forced to enter the game without the services of Vaclav Cerny and Jefte.
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Hide AdSpeaking with the press, Clement said: “He has a small injury, nothing very serious but the medical staff said he was not able to play today. It was not possible. They tried everything to get him fit but it was a really short time after the last game to this game. So yeah, unluckily it's not possible. He's been very important in the last four games with five goals but also given a lot of effort for the team.
“But it's normal things. He played with the national team also. He played a lot of games. So it's normal that they get a niggle in between and they will miss some things. But of course you don't want it in a game of this magnitude.
“On Jefte, he played a lot of games and you saw the last game he started to get more tired. So we need to protect him in that way. He never played so many minutes in a team before. He's still young. We need to build his body in that way and he's fresh to come in.
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Hide Ad“Kasanwirjo played a good game again at the weekend and every time he played until now it was good. On the right side, central or on the left side. So I want to see that on the left side today and then we can see if one moment we put Jefte in or not.”