Brendan Rodgers hails "phenomenal" players

Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers praised his players after seeing their 69-match unbeaten domestic run end at Hearts.

The reigning Ladbrokes Premiership champions lost 4-0 - Rodgers' first defeat by a Scottish club since he took over at Celtic in the summer of 2016.

The former Liverpool boss told Sky Sports 2: "Credit to Hearts, they were the better team, they were physically better than us in the first half and thoroughly deserved it. Congratulations to them on their victory.

"But also congratulations to my players, it (the unbeaten run) is a phenomenal achievement. It demonstrates the level of professionalism and quality.

"Coming off the back of European games you can easily lose but these players have stood up to that. It's a big thank you to the players for what we've done."

"We weren't so good today, we made too many mistakes to warrant getting a result - but I'm proud of the players, we'll press the reset button, analyse the game and try to win in midweek (at home to Partick Thistle)."

Rodgers continued: "There are always lessons if you win or lose but I've just said to the players they've had a remarkable run, so to sit there and talk about a defeat for the first time domestically shows how well they've worked."

Harry Cochrane and Kyle Lafferty gave Hearts a 2-0 lead before David Milinkovic wrapped up the home success with two goals - one a penalty.

Hearts boss Craig Levein said: "I think we were in the 89th minute when I thought 'we're going to actually win this'. It's just reward for the efforts the players put in."

Cochrane and substitute Anthony McDonald - both 16 - featured in a much-changed home team and Levein said: "They're good players.

"They're probably playing a bit earlier but they've been training with the first team since the summer. They both love playing football and want to show off all the time."

On his game plan, Levein continued: "We watched the Anderlecht game and they pressed them (Celtic) exceptionally well. We tried to copy that. Any player who gets pressurised feels uncomfortable, the message was 'make them feel as uncomfortable as possible'.

"We had a plan to be more defensive if we got in front but it went right for us. Celtic weren't at their best.

"I know what it's like here when the supporters get behind us and we're playing well - but I didn't think we'd won 4-0."

The Hearts boss also praised makeshift central defender Michael Smith, adding: "He was exceptional.

"I don't know if he's played centre-back before but I didn't give him the opportunity to say no because we had no one else...but I can't single anybody out, it was a real team performance."

Defender Christophe Berra added: It shows you what hard work does. We made it very hard and they didn't like it. The manager said I would rather have a go than sit back and be tactical - but credit Celtic, they've been on a great run.

"Just before Harry scored I said he should have had a shot and he took that advice. He's a good lad and has got a great career ahead of him if he keeps his head down."

Cochrane, who was asked to pass his man-of-the-match champagne to team-mate Milinkovic because of his tender age, said of his goal: There was no pressure on, so I thought 'hit it'.

"We got the result but we need to keep it going. I can't get carried away, I just need to keep performing like I did today.

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