Hoops ‘are no longer haunted by Hampden’

Celtic boss Rodgers admits playing at national stadium once filled his side with trepidation

Brendan Rodgers believes Celtic are improving with each Hampden Park appearance as he looks for eight wins in a row at the national stadium against Motherwell tomorrow.

The Northern Irishman has been invincible in Mount Florida on seven occasions since he took over the Parkhead club in 2016.

The Hoops had suffered defeats in semi-finals and finals to Ross County, Inverness, St Mirren and Kilmarnock in eight out of 16 visits to Hampden before Rodgers replaced Ronny Deila.

He gave his players a pep-talk before his first Hampden appearance, a 1-0 Betfred Cup semi-final win over Rangers in October 2016 before beating Aberdeen 3-0 in the final.

In Celtic’s most recent last-four appearance they hammered the Light Blues 4-0 last month and victory over Well will secure an unprecedented successive domestic treble.

“The players gained a huge amount of confidence from the first time that we played here,” said Rodgers, who revealed goalkeeper Craig Gordon is available after missing the last three games with a knee injury.

“There was a lot of trepidation around coming to Hampden for whatever reason.

“I think sometimes if players are told something often enough they can believe it a little bit.

“We tried to improve the mindset of the players going into our first semi-final in the League Cup last season.

“And having gone through that and gone on and not just won the first final here, but to play in the way that we did, it gave the players a lot of confidence and from that each time we have performed really well and arguably getting better.

“The players now have a confidence and I also think that the supporters come with a quiet confidence, that they enjoy watching their team play.”

Rodgers’ first season in charge saw Celtic win the treble without losing a game but this time there were four defeats on the way to the title.

However, the former Swansea and Liverpool boss is encouraged by his side’s propensity to win the games that matter.

“The players have been absolutely fantastic since the day I came in,” said Rodgers.

“I looked at them again this morning and they are not saving themselves, they are intent, they are focused and they take that into the games.”

Picture: SNS. Brendan Rodgers with the Scottish Cup.