Brendan Rodgers made a handful of changes to his starting XI against Aberdeen in the Scottish League Cup semi-final, one of which was opting for Cameron Carter-Vickers and Auston Trusty in the heart of his defence.

This decision saw Liam Scales drop to the bench, despite having been one of the manager's most consistent first-team faces since his return to the Celtic Park dugout in the summer of 2023.

Speaking to Premier Sports ahead of kick-off, Rodgers explained his decision to go with an all-American backline.

He said: "It was very tough because Liam's been absolutely brilliant for me since he came into the team.

"But we try to look at each game, and I felt that with the striker that we thought Aberdeen were going to play who likes to run in behind, so we [wanted to] add that extra bit of pace into the backline.

"Auston's physicality is very good, and that was the reason for that."