BOSS Brendan Rodgers described Celtic’s 3-0 Champions League win over Anderlecht in Brussels as a “brilliant team performance” then insisted they can get better.
Striker Leigh Griffiths opened the scoring in the 38th minute of a dull first half at the Constant Vanden Stock stadium with a poacher’s goal and five minutes after the break Patrick Roberts’ drive went in off substitute Kara Mbodji.
Scott Sinclair scored a breakaway third in added time to confirm Celtic’s second away win in the competition – the first was five years ago against Spartak Moscow – and their first clean sheet away from Parkhead.
“It was a brilliant team performance,” said Rodgers, who revealed skipper Scott Brown, who came off with a hamstring injury, will be assessed in the next couple of day with Scotland’s upcoming and crucial World Cup qualifying double header in mind.
“It was an outstanding performance and result.
“There are still areas to improve but they were absolutely exceptional.
“We did very very well. For a s Scottish team to come away, get a 3-0 victory, keep a clean sheet at this level is obviously a big achievement.
“We can be better than we were tonight but the players deserve a huge amount of credit, on the back of the game at the weekend (2-0 win over Rangers), which was a high intensity game.
“To come away and deliver that type of performance, the deserve all the plaudits they get.”
Celtic lost 5-0 to PSG in their first Group B game at Parkhead and the Frenchside top the table with six points after their 3-0 home victory over Germangiants Bayern Munich.
It was widely believed that the Scottish champions and Anderlecht – bottom without a point – would fight for third place and a Europa League spot but when asked if the victory had taken Celtic a massive step towards that the Northern Irishman said: “Not really? It is a great victory for us.
“It shows the development of the squad in the last year or so.
“There is a long way to go in the group.
“PSG won 3-0 so maybe our 5-0 wasn’t too bad, we might get a wee bit of credit somewhere along the line.
“We will take the victory, reflect on the game.”
On Brown, who was replaced by Nir Bitton in the 70th minute, said: “He said when he came off – and I haven’t spoken to him since – that he felt something tight and obviously didn’t want to aggravate it so we will not know for the next 24-48 hours where that’s at.”
Scotland boss Gordon Strachan sweating over injury to Celtic midfielder Scott Brown
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