Brendan Rodgers railed against the negative narrative around Celtic and him after reaching the quarter-finals of the Scottish Gas Scottish Cup with a 2-0 win over St Mirren.
Despite sitting three points clear of Old Firm rivals Rangers at the top of the cinch Premiership, the Parkhead boss has come under fire for the Hoops’ style of play this season and also for his recruitment.
The holders were shorn of defenders Alistair Johnston, Cameron Carter-Vickers and Greg Taylor through injury but Japanese duo Kyogo Furuhashi and Daizen Maeda netted against a spirited home side to earn a home quarter-final tie against Livingston.
Rodgers, who returned to Celtic Park for a second spell in the summer following the departure of Ange Postecoglou to Tottenham, noted that it is now eight wins and a draw in nine games for the Hoops – difficult to construe as any sort of a crisis.
He said: “It’s obviously (a narrative that’s) been created outside.
“But I don’t expect anything less to be honest. We just focus on ourselves.
“We are a winning club. When you’ve won consistently over a number of years, people will look to jump on you and bring us down – and bring me down.
“I am here to win. For sure we will have our day, and have many days going forward.
“We’ll get our influential players back and the squad will be very strong to the end of the season. We’ll continue to fight.
“We just have to prove a point to ourselves and our supporters. I think that’s always the best attitude. You are always looking to prove a point.
“It’s a part of the world where there is a lot of noise – and this year in particular when it (Celtic’s play) maybe hasn’t been as fluent.
“We get compared to the squad of last season but one, it’s not the same squad as last season, and two, a lot of those players who were starting last season have not been playing all of this season.
“But it hasn’t stopped the negativity.
“But I use it in a different way and look logically at it. We’ve missed some important players for long periods and we made some changes in the summer.
“This is a young group of players here who are giving everything, who are looking to develop and improve. If they keep doing that we’ll keep winning games.”
On Israel winger Liel Abada’s omission from the squad altogether, Rodgers said: “He wasn’t in a right frame of mind.
“I’ve spoke a lot to Liel and it has been a challenging time for him. I just felt when he came into the game (at Hibernian) the other night, it just wasn’t him.
“So we gave him this chance to have a few days and clear his mind. I’ll have a chat with him again next week, see where he’s at.”
Johnston picked up a head injury in the midweek win over Hibs and Rodgers said: “We’re just waiting to see again on him.
“A slight fracture on the side. The thinking is we’ll have a look in 10 days to see where he’s at.
“But it could be 10 days to four weeks. We’ll just have to wait and see.”
St Mirren boss Stephen Robinson was both “proud” and “frustrated” about his side’s performance as they exited the cup.
He said: “I’m proud of them, but frustrated at the same time because we had chances and we weren’t clinical enough
“There has to be credit given to Celtic for the two chances they take, they are clinical, and they defended very, very well in their box.
“There were two or three blocks that were fantastic, and ultimately they were better in both 18-yard boxes.
“So, for all the stuff we did in between, they deserved to win the game.”
Alonso's injury concerns growing amid Leverkusen fixture congestion
Xabi Alonso stressed that he needs all of his players to compete in Bayer Leverkusen's packed schedule, with Salzburg next up in the Champions League.
French striker Martin Terrier joined Leverkusen's long injury list when he fractured his right forearm during their 5-2 comeback win over Heidenheim in the Bundesliga on Saturday, while Jeremie Frimpong also had to go off before half-time.
Jonas Hofmann was ruled out for the rest of the year due to a thigh injury before that game on Saturday, joining Victor Boniface, Amine Adli, Nordi Mukiele and Jeanuel Belocian on the sidelines.
"We need the whole squad but with six injured players, everyone is even more important," Alonso told reporters.
"It's intense to play every three days. A special situation in which we need every single player."
Along with injury concerns, Leverkusen have struggled with form in the past weeks as they drew 1-1 with Brest and then lost 4-0 to Liverpool in Europe's top competition.
Since the start of last season, no team has won more games in major European competition than Leverkusen (11, excluding qualifiers), while only Liverpool (39) and Manchester City (38) have scored more than Alonso's side (37) in this period.
However, since the start of the 2023-24 campaign, Leverkusen have won six of their seven home matches in major European competition (D1), and beat Milan in their only match on home soil in the Champions League this term (1-0).
Leverkusen, winners of the domestic double last season, are 13th in the Champions League standings and will face Salzburg, who are 30th, but Alonso said Pepijn Lijnders' side cannot be taken lightly.
"We know how important the upcoming home games against Salzburg and Inter are. We expect a good opponent tomorrow," he added.
"Salzburg plays with a lot of intensity and dynamism. We want to get these important points in the BayArena. We need the energy from the fans. In difficult moments, they can influence and push us."
Mbappe position switch works wonders for Ancelotti
Carlo Ancelotti was satisfied his tactical decision to switch Kylian Mbappe's position in attack paid off in Real Madrid's 3-0 win over Leganes.
Mbappe scored his seventh goal of the season to help Madrid to a comfortable victory in LaLiga on Sunday.
However, his position in Madrid's front line has been a topic of debate since he joined the Spanish champions, with Mbappe having often played out wide while at Paris Saint-Germain.
And Ancelotti elected to switch Mbappe out to the left flank against Leganes, with Vinicius Junior spearheading Los Blancos' attack.
"Mbappe played on the left side, where he did well, and Vinicius on the inside," Ancelotti told reporters.
"We have to highlight their play to open the scoring. They did very, very well. Mbappe scored, after a fantastic assist from Vinicius. Little by little, they're both improving.
"Kylian is more used to playing there and today, for the team and for him, it was the best thing.
"Because playing on the outside brings more effort and Vinicius was back on Thursday. Meanwhile, Kylian had been training here for a week and a half, he was fresher."
Mbappe was not called up by France coach Didier Deschamps for this month's Nations League games, despite being Les Bleus' captain.
With an injury crisis at the back and a trip to Anfield to face Premier League and Champions League leaders Liverpool coming up, Ancelotti added he was hopeful of Lucas Vazquez, who has a hamstring strain, and Aurelien Tchouameni, who is recovering from a sprained left ankle, returning to action.
He was also upbeat about the contribution of Federico Valverde, who scored from a free-kick while filling in at right-back.
"The truth is that Fede, at the back, has done very well," said Ancelotti of the Uruguayan, who also wore the captain's armband.
"He's a fantastic fullback. After Dani Carvajal and Lucas Vazquez, the best right-back in the world. His problem is that he can play at this level in many positions and is the coach's problem to choose the best position for the team.
"Let's see if Lucas and Tchouameni can recover. If not, we will make decisions."
Jude Bellingham netted Madrid's other goal as Ancelotti's team closed to within four points of LaLiga leaders Barcelona, who drew 2-2 with Celta Vigo on Saturday.
Madrid also have a game in hand on Hansi Flick's side.
Rodgers enjoying 'exciting period' as Celtic open gap at top of Scottish Premiership
Brendan Rodgers says it is an "exciting period" for Celtic as they moved three points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership with a 4-1 win over Hearts.
Celtic made a sluggish start to the match and were lucky not to find themselves behind at the break as Blair Spittal and Lawrence Shankland spurned glorious chances for Hearts.
However, they came out revitalised in the second half as Kyogo Furuhashi and Nicolas Kuhn scored twice in five minutes to put them 2-0 up on the hour mark.
Adam Idah scored twice, netting on either side of Musa Drammeh's consolation, with his second coming from the penalty spot in the 94th minute.
Celtic have now won all seven of their away league games this season by an aggregate score of 22-2.
After Aberdeen's first loss of the season earlier on Saturday, Celtic gave themselves some breathing space at the top of the league, while also moving 11 points clear of rivals Rangers, who sit third.
Rodgers was delighted with Celtic's response to the first half, praising the players' adaptation.
"I'm really pleased. Tynecastle is a really tough place so to win 4-1 was really pleasing," Rodgers said.
"Second half, we figured out their press. They have normally been pressing in 4-4-2 but changed it slightly. It just meant we had to drop a man in our build-up play.
"We had some good moments in the first half, but once we were able to play through that pressure, I thought in the second half we were excellent.
"It's a very exciting period for us. All the players know they will play, they just need to be ready."
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