Rodgers hails five-star Celtic

Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers was delighted with his side’s performance as they beat Kilmarnock 5-0 in the second round of the Scottish League Cup on Tuesday.

The Hoops boss made eight changes to the side that beat Hearts 4-1 in their Scottish Premiership opener on Saturday, but that did not affect their performance, as a double from Leigh Griffiths and further strikes from Anthony Ralston, Kieran Tierney and Stuart Armstrong handed them the victory.

Rodgers was certainly pleased with his side’s showing and he believes the emphatic nature of the result underlines the strength within his squad.

“It was a brilliant performance, a joy to watch the team,” the Northern Irishman said. “I genuinely think I can pick a team out of the squad and it’ll function to a high level, they all understand how we play.”

Six members of Rodgers’ starting line-up were 20 or under and the former Liverpool boss believes it is important the Glasgow giants nurture their young talent properly.

He added: “A great demonstration of the strength of our squad, six of the players who started were 20 or under, so it shows we’re a club for young players to develop and come through.”

Rodgers is likely to make further changes to his starting line-up for Celtic’s next match, a Premiership clash with Partick Thistle at Firhill on Friday.

The Bhoys are priced at 1.25 to continue their winning start to the domestic season, while Partick are available at 10.00 and the draw is on offer at 6.50.