TOM Rogic has taken a swipe at Rangers manager Pedro Caixinha following his altercation with Celtic captain Scott Brown - by stating that Brendan Rodgers would never get involved in a touchline bust-up with a rival player.
Caixinha confronted Brown as he made his way off the pitch at half-time at Ibrox on Saturday after taking exception to the midfielder’s challenge on his striker Alfredo Morelos shortly before.
The irate Portuguese coach, whose side lost the game 2-0 to fall eight points behind the Ladbrokes Premiership leaders after just seven games, was shoved aside by Leigh Griffiths and then ushered away by Ryan Jack.
Rogic, who scored the first goal early in the second half, believes the predicament his team, who are now in fifth place in the league table, are in led to his reaction and insisted that Rodgers wouldn’t have acted in such a manner.
“I don’t know what the Rangers manager saw,” he said. “It’s up to him, but you certainly wouldn’t see our manager getting involved in anything like that. I think that maybe says a little bit about their situation and where they are.”
Caixinha, who revealed on Friday that he was keeping a list of refereeing decisions which go for and against Rangers after growing increasingly concerned about the number of bad calls by match officials in games involving his side, was scathing about Brown afterwards.
But asked if he thought the Celtic skipper had crossed the line with his challenge on Cardoso and other Rangers players during the derby match, Rogic replied: “No, I don’t think so. Scott is a good leader.”
Meanwhile, the Australian admitted Celtic will be looking to build on their Betfred Cup quarter-final win over Dundee and Premiership triumph against Rangers with a positive result in their second Champions League group game against Anderlecht in Belgium on Wednesday evening.
The Group B match in the Constant Vanden Stock Stadium is massive for the Scottish champions, who were thrashed 5-0 by Paris Saint-Germain in their opening outing earlier this month, who want to be involved in Europe beyond Christmas.
If they win or even draw with Rene Weiler’s team it will greatly increase their chances of at least finishing third in a group which also comprises Bayern Munich and securing a place in the last 32 of the Europa League.
“It has been a massive week for the club,” he said. “Firstly, getting into the semi-final of the Betfred Cup. That is a competition we want to do well in. Then we had the match on Saturday. It carries a lot of importance for the club, the fans, everyone.
“They will be followed by what is obviously a massive game in the Champions League. The games don’t stop. That is part of being at this club and being successful. We look forward to Wednesday now. We will recover and prepare ourselves for that match.”
“The last game was certainly a learning curve. For us as a team we want to be successful in this tournament as well and progress further than we did last year. It is another massive, massive game.”
“We got into every match in the Champions League, regardless of the opposition, wanting to compete and wanting to be successful. So it’s no different on Wednesday.”
Meanwhile, Celtic are set to escape punishment from the SFA for the flare which was thrown onto the pitch at Ibrox – narrowly missing Rangers goalkeeper Wes Foderingham - on Saturday following Rogic’s goal.
The Parkhead club will be able to show they took every possible precaution to ensure the good conduct and behaviour of their supporters at the match.
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