Brendan Rodgers: We aim to impose our style on the game | OneFootball

Celtic meet Hibernian tomorrow (Saturday) for the fourth time already this season, with league wins home and away, plus a home League Cup victory that set the Hoops on the way to lifting the trophy three rounds later.

There’s also a Scottish Cup quarter-final on the horizon in a fortnight, and with Hibs among a clutch of clubs posturing for a top-six place, there could even be a sixth meeting after the split.

The complete focus, though, is on the action at Easter Road in Saturday’s lunchtime kick-off that follows on the heels of the midweek trip to the Allianz Arena to take on Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champions League.

That game, of course, was on Tuesday, giving the Celts a modicum of breathing space between games, but that has been counterbalanced by Celtic welcoming Aberdeen in the SPFL this coming Tuesday, only days after the capital clash.

Celtic manager, Brendan Rodgers said ahead of the Hibs game: “The players are in a great place physically.

“We obviously played on the Tuesday, we’ve had couple of days to recover, we had a good session this morning and designed our plan for the game.

“Obviously we have a game on Saturday, a game on Tuesday, so it’s going to be a tight turnaround.

“But whatever team I play, it will be looking to impose our style on the game.”

Of the aforementioned games against Hibs, the 3-0 win for the Hoops here at Celtic Park was, indeed, the last time the Edinburgh side suffered a defeat – all of 12 games ago.

Since then in the league as well as the Scottish Cup, there have been eight victories and four away draws for David Gray’s side, with the Easter Road team’s manager having completely turned around the fortunes of their prospects this season.

Brendan Rodgers said: “They are obviously going to be high in confidence. I feel they’ve picked up over the past few months really well.

“I’m delighted for David, I think I mentioned the last time when I spoke that managers need time, especially young managers coming in.

“They need that time and he’s turned it around really, really well.

“So they look a team that’s got confidence, they’re very happy in the structure they play, they get the ball forward quickly, they get it wide, they get crosses in the box.

“So we know there’s going to be moments when we have to defend the game, but for us, we want the three points, so we know we have to go and get them.”

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More on the game

Fixtures

Hibernian Vs. Celtic - Sat, Feb 22nd 2025, 12:30