BRENDAN Rodgers will be a party pooper if Celtic win the Betfred Cup this afternoon against Aberdeen at Hampden, telling his players the champagne will remain on ice if they land their seventh consecutive trophy.
Rodgers has learned from the experience of the last time Celtic saw off Aberdeen to win this competition in 2016, when his players were allowed off the leash only to suffer for it in their next game against Motherwell at Fir Park.
Celtic travel to face the same opponent yet again on Wednesday night, and Rodgers has therefore decreed that any celebrations will be put on hold until the winter break.
“It’ll be quiet,” Rodgers said. “The problem we had the last time was we won the League Cup final [against Aberdeen] then we went a week later and were 2-0 down at half-time at Motherwell. We came back and won 4-3.
“We’ll get a period in January where we can reflect on everything if we need to and enjoy it is we can.
“We’ll go, we want to win, and then we’ve got a game on Wednesday night.
“I think they boys know me well enough now. I treat them like adults, they are not kids with me. I treat them as men and we know when those little periods are. When you are playing so many games, your body is so important. You have to look after it.
“But let’s get the job done at the weekend and get another trophy.”
Meanwhile, Aberdeen winger Niall McGinn has admitted that Aberdeen will have to sharpen up defensively if they are to have any chance of upsetting the odds and lifting the League Cup.
The Dons were shambolic at the back as they lost three goals at Motherwell last week, but McGinn believes that with a little bit of luck and a big performance from goalkeeper Joe Lewis, Derek McInnes’s men can finally get the better of Celtic at Hampden.
"If we score first it will be a big incentive and there's not many times in my time we've gone ahead and lost the game," the former Celtic winger told his club's official website.
"We'll need a wee bit of luck at times and will have to defend really well and Joe (Lewis) is probably going to have to pull off a few saves and we'll have to be strong defensively.
"We need to defend from the front right through the midfield and any opportunities that come our way we're going to do our best to take them."
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