DEMBELE WON’T BE RUSHED

BRENDAN RODGERS has hinted that star striker Moussa Dembele may have some way to go before he is ready to start matches after his hamstring injury. Dembele was handed the final ten minutes of Saturday’s 2-0 win against Rangers to ready him for tomorrow night’s Champions League clash with Anderlecht, but the Celtic boss revealed yesterday that the Frenchman (right) is likely to be on the bench at the Constant Vanden Stock Stadium in Brussels. ‘The most important thing is you’ve got to be careful with hamstring injuries,’ said Rodgers. ‘We have to phase him back into it. ‘He’ll be in the squad and we’ll see how we work. We’ve got a big game against Hibs at the weekend, which will be another tough one for us. But he’s getting stronger and fitter, so we’ll see how he is for midweek.’ The weekend victory extended Rodgers’ haul in the Old Firm derby to six wins and a draw from seven matches. Despite such an imperious record, he’s adamant that his side will take nothing for granted when Rangers travel to Celtic Park for the next instalment on December 30. ‘It’s a difficult one,’ he added. ‘We’ve played seven times now and these are the type of games that you can never be complacent in. ‘You go into them and you know if you play well and are aggressive in your defending, you always have a chance to create and score goals. ‘But we never go into them and just expect (to win).’ Rodgers, though, feels the two-goal victory his side registered on Saturday in no way flattered his side. ‘They are always great games — very tense and there was a bit of expectation from Rangers as they had been doing reasonably well,’ he said. ‘It was actually similar in terms of numbers and statistics to when we won 5-1 (in April), but we probably lacked a bit of efficiency in the game.’