Brendan Rodgers has broken his silence on the appointment of John Beaton as referee for Celtic's crucial away clash against Rangers this weekend.

He will be the man in the middle at Ibrox as Glasgow's big two meet on Sunday lunchtime in what is set to be a powderkeg encounter.

Just a single point separates the teams at the summit of the Premiership, and the likelihood is that the title race will go down to the wire for the first time in well over a decade this season.

The Scottish FA confirmed on Tuesday that Beaton would be tasked with being the on-field official for the massive game.

That decision came a matter of weeks after Rodgers blasted his 'incompetence' following his decisions made on VAR duty as Hearts defeated the champions at Tynecastle.

The Northern Irishman was hit with a two-game ban for that outburst, with one of those matches suspended, freeing him up to be in the away dugout this weekend.

And he insists, despite his recent run-in with Beaton, he's 'comfortable' with him being in charge, and admits he's one of the best referees Scotland has to offer.

"For me, for John to be given the game, these games are for the top referees, and I've always said that John Beaton is one of the top referees in the country.

"So, he's been allocated the game, I'm comfortable with that. He's refereed games that have been there before.

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"My point, like I said before, was for that one game. I'm not talking about John Beaton's career as a referee. My gripe was on that day. 

"They feel they have to appoint someone who is experienced and John is one of the top experienced referees in the country."