Brendan Rodgers has hit out at his Celtic critics - insisting he's been treated like a 'novice' since returning to Scotland.

Who exactly he's referring to with that remark is unclear.

However, speaking after watching his team take a major step towards retaining the Scottish Premiership title, he insists he's not been going through the motions.

Celtic defeated arch-Glasgow rivals Rangers 2-1 at Parkhead. Matt O'Riley got the first, while John Lundstram put the ball into his own net moments later.

Cyriel Dessers did get one back and provided a much-needed lifeline for Philippe Clement's men.

Lundstram completed a nightmare first half though by receiving a red card for a horrible challenge on Celtic's Alistair Johnston.

Rodgers was delighted with his team's output, despite not taking their multiple second-half chances to add some more gloss to the scoreline.

Although, the Northern Irishman couldn't help but aim a dig at his doubters from across the 2023/24 campaign.

He told the media: "What is every other manager doing if I'm going through the motions?

"From a personal level, I've been treated like a novice since I've come back here, like it's my first job.

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"However, my principal objective is to make sure that Celtic win. Part of that is a part of the criticism and I understand that, but it's the mentality of the team that's most important to me.

"And you can see from where we were, with injuries, how we've progressed, how we stayed unified, how we stayed together, and how we then get to this point where we're nearly crossing the finish line.

"We don't just want to cross it, we want to sprint over it. We've got two games to go, plus a final, and that is our mentality."