I won’t mind if Dee gift us title – gaffer
From Back Page lose to Dundee on Tayside on Friday week, Celtic will be crowned champions before they’ve even kicked a ball against Hearts the following day.
It’s all over bar the shouting after goals from Jozo Simunovic and Stuart Armstrong put Celtic on course for their 27th league win of the campaign, even if they were almost rocked by a Dark Blues fightback inspired by a late strike by sub Faissal El Bakhtaoui.
Rodgers said: “I always said when I arrived at the club we weren’t defending a title but looking to win it.
“The ideal scenario is you win it yourself but I’ll take Dundee winning on the Friday night.
“We never expected the chance to win it as early as this. We’ve done our best in every single game and an immense amount of credit must be given to the players.
“They’ve shown focus and mentality to see through games, such as this one against Dundee, and win. We have never taken it for granted or shown complacency. We have to win it and earn it.
“It would be nice to win it at Tynecastle. We have a couple of weeks and I hope the players all come back from international duty fit and fine. It was our intention to win every trophy and this is the next available. The challenge was there – can we win it and as quick as we could.
“We still have nine league games to go and it’s been a long season but we’re really motivated to finish the best we can. If we can finish strong it also sets us up to begin the following season well.”
Armstrong scored his 12th goal of the season as he prepares for a likely Scotland debut this week against Canada before Sunday’s World Cup qualifier against Slovenia.
Rodgers added: “He could certainly go in and play for Scotland this week although there are obviously good players for Scotland in that area of the pitch.
“I have always believed international football is about technique, speed, mobility and a tactical awareness and Stuart has all of those elements.
“He was outstanding against Dundee. It was unfortunate in the derby game last week he had to come off when his calves tightened up and you saw the impact of that.
“But he was fine today and he has running ability, power and this inbuilt brain for scoring all different types of goal.
“He’s a big talent and he’s only going one way which is nice for Celtic and for Scotland.”
Celtic were holding on at the end against Dundee but Rodgers said: “We were excellent. We started a little slowly but as the half went on we found our rhythm and we got a deserved goal.
“We lost our positioning a little on the field and that allowed them to then go and score a fantastic goal. After that there was a different side asked of our team but the players dealt with it really well.”