Everything that Brendan Rodgers said to Celtic TV after the 2-0 Scottish Premiership win over Hearts...

It felt like a more hard-fought win than perhaps some of them so far, but are you proud of the endeavours of the players today?

Yes. I think on the back of an international break you always hope that the players will come back and show up. I thought there were a lot of moments in the game where we were really good. Hearts came to make it really difficult and they worked very hard. There was good physicality in the team and if we had scored the goal earlier then it might have been different. We had a few chances, Arne (Engels) got in and flashed it over, he also hit the post and we had a great chance with Kyogo (Furhashi). If we had got that goal in the first 20 minutes it would have opened the game up for us. We didn't quite manage to do that. I still thought we looked lively and creative and Craig Gordon made a couple of good saves as well. In these games, you have got to show up and the players showed up very well. They kept pushing and they got the penalty and then we got the second goal and unfortunately, the third goal was ruled out for offside. Overall, it was very pleasing and I believe the players have broken a record as well which is always nice.

This record stretches back to 1906 and it is the best start to a season since then with five wins in the opening five matches and five clean sheets. You will take as much pride from that as the goals, won't you?

Yes. I said to the players beforehand our objective is to win but if there is a record there then we might as well go for it and try and push and get it. The players had that extra added bit of mentality to their game and I think you could see that. The pressing was excellent and doubling up and restricting them to not so many opportunities. They went right to the end and guys who had travelled a long way kept running and kept fighting to the end to keep that clean sheet mentality. That is important in any top team and the players demonstrated that.

You have mentioned in the past that playing for Celtic brings its own pressure as there is an expectancy to win. Early in the second half when there are no goals and you get a penalty kick. A young man then confidently steps up and scores. That is quite the thing to do, isn't it?

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Yes, absolutely. It was a really cool finish from Arne. We needed one way or another to break through and get the goal and he showed great composure to be able to do that. I was really pleased for Arne as he was excellent in the game. He showed good running and good physicality and he finished it with aplomb.

The impact of your substitutes came to the fore again as Luke McCowan scored his first goal for Celtic with the second one and it was very important, Adam Idah has come on and unfortunately had a goal disallowed. However, you will be pleased to see the squad doing exactly what you need from them, won't you?

Yes. It is what we need as we are going into a very busy period now over these coming months. We needed to give those guys some minutes in their legs and to come in and contribute even more so. It's such a special moment for Luke. He is a Celtic supporter and to score in the game and to have that feeling from the crowd. We all saw the joy that he had for himself by becoming a Celtic player and he felt that in the whole stadium when he got his goal. It was a special moment for him and it was a really good finish against Craig Gordon who is a top goalkeeper.

The attention will now turn to Matchday One of the Champions League and assuming there is very little needed in terms of motivation for the players. What will that look like given the travelling some of them have done and the intense match they faced today?

We will just recover now and put a plan in place for Wednesday. I am so excited by that. Today was important to get off to a good start this week as we are playing in three competitions so it was important to get the victory. Everybody remembers a year ago when we lost 2-0 to Hearts and it wasn't very nice and it didn't feel good. Now you see where the team is at as they have a mentality that is really strong and everyone is contributing. It was a really good result.