Brendan Rodgers hailed lethal Luke McCowan and his amazing Celtic stars.
The midfield star stylishly seized a first club start in the absence of skipper Callum McGregor with a terrific opener to set the champions on their way back to the Premiership summit. Rodgers confirmed McGregor’s abductor issue shouldn’t be “too serious” and he’s likely to be back for Saturday’s Premier Sports Cup semi-final against Aberdeen.
But the manager poured praise onto McGowan and the rest for their outstanding Fir Park show which came on the back of a gruelling Champions League test against Atalanta. Rodgers said: “I’m so happy for him. As a Celtic supporter coming in, that enthusiasm first of all, but then that wears off after a while and you have to perform. He performs with great energy, a great passion for the game, and he has quality.
“Callum obviously wasn’t going to play, so the idea was to bring him in because he’s a goal threat and I thought he took his goal really well. You see that in every game he plays, he looks like he can create goals or score a goal. So I’m absolutely delighted for him and all those players that are coming in and playing a very important role in it.
“Motherwell away has always been a tough game, so to finish 3-0, and it could have been more convincing by the end if we had been a wee bit more clinical, but, overall, the players done absolutely amazing. I’m absolutely delighted to come here on the back of a game during the week where there was a big exertion, a big physicality. First half we needed to switch the ball more. When we did that, the opportunities and spaces opened up for us. That’s where the first goal came from. So half-time, it was just about reinforcing a couple of defensive items. Second half, it was just about managing the game and ball better and I thought we did that really well. We played with a really good calmness.”
Celtic made light of McGregor’s absence with McCowan, Paulo Bernardo and Reo Hatate smoothly controlling the midfield with Arne Engels entering as a sub. Rodgers explained the skipper’s situation and stated: “It shouldn’t be too serious.
“I got the call late last [Saturday] night and, normally with Callum, the number of games he’s played over the years, I think it was really sensible as well. It was really mature, because maybe before he might not have mentioned anything, but he had a wee feeling after the training session yesterday.
“I got to find out, and we said let’s see how he is in the morning. So rather than take any risk with it, it’s his abductor, it only takes a stretch on it and then be out for a number of weeks. But, hopefully, he’ll be fine over these next few days, and if not Wednesday, then hopefully he should be fine for next weekend.”
Rodgers also gave an update on striker Adam Idah, who bagged the side’s third goal from the subs bench after skipper Alistair Johnston added to McCowan’s strike. The Irish striker was the victim of a studs-up tackle in stoppage-time which resulted in a red card for home defender Liam Gordon.
Rodgers said: “It looked a sore one. To be fair to the player, I don’t think he’s tried to do him, he’s just on the stretch a bit. The problem is when you leave the ground and he’s just rocked his ankle a bit. Adam couldn’t feel it initially. But once he got going, and obviously the goal helps, he was okay. He’ll probably have a wee bit of swelling, I would say.”