Brendan Rodgers offers instant reaction to Celtic defeat, shares what he told players in huddle

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Celtic’s long unbeaten run has finally come to an end with a 4-0 thrashing at Hearts.

Celtic’s 69-game unbeaten domestic run came to an end on Sunday afternoon, as they were hammered 4-0 away at Hearts.

The Bhoys, who beat Hamilton Academical 3-1 in midweek, were hoping to stretch their run to 70 games, but were completely obliterated at Tynecastle.

Teenager Harry Cochrane smashed Hearts into a first half lead, before ex-Rangers striker Kyle Lafferty fired in a second before the break.

Manuel Milinkovic added a third by rounding Craig Gordon and tapping home, before the Serbian winger converted from the penalty spot to make it 4-0 after Ross Callachan was brought down by Gordon.

For Celtic’s unbeaten run to come to such a shock, crushing end has stunned many, and manager Brendan Rodgers must now deal with his first domestic defeat since becoming Celtic manager back in 2016.

With recent close scares against Motherwell and Hibernian, maybe Celtic finally losing shouldn’t be too much of a shock, but the manner of their defeat has been hard to take.

After the final whistle, manager Rodgers spoke to BBC Sport about the defeat, urging his players to hit the reset button and go again, in the hope of stringing together another long unbeaten run.

Rodgers added that, in the team huddle after the game, he told his players that they have still achieved something ‘incredible’, and wanted to console his squad after the hurtful loss in Edinburgh.

“We hit the reset button and look to get three points in our next game,” said Rodgers. “Now that the run is finished, we want to get back to winning ways as quickly as possible.”

“I know the disappointment and the honesty of the group; it was just a case of saying remember what this feels like – that obviously hurts – but also to remind them that what they’ve done is incredible. It’s over now and we need to get ready to go again,” he added.