By Michael Gannon

Copyright dailyrecord

Brendan Rodgers has warned Rangers rival Russell Martin he’ll face a different Celtic side at Hampden. The Hoops boss stood up for the under-fire Ibrox gaffer last week – but will be out to pile on the pressure when the pair square up in November after being set on a Premier Sports Cup collision course. Celts strolled into the last semi-finals in Sunday’s 4-0 victory against Partick Thistle to set up an Old Firm showdown . Rodgers is determined to put the record straight after going almost a YEAR without a derby win. Celtic triumphed in the League Cup Final derby last December but have lost two and drawn two of the last four clashes – including the goalless stalemate in Govan last month. Rodgers said: “I think I said it at the time, for both teams, Ibrox wasn’t a great game, to be honest. “My only worry is Celtic, but we weren’t in our best place, even though in other times, if you go to Ibrox and you get a point, it might be deemed OK. “For me, it was just about trusting the team and trusting how we work. More importantly, trusting the players, which I do and I can see the fluency starting to arrive. “Whatever team you play in the semi-final, going to Hampden, I think that was important for us to get back there. “There are a lot of games between now and then and hopefully we can build the rhythm and keep growing and arrive in a good place for the semi.” New recruit Sebastian Tounekti impressed as the wide man bagged his fist goal for the Hoops after Yang Hyun-jun and Liam Scales blasted a quick fire first half double. Luke McCowan added a fourth and Rodgers said: “I thought we played very well. We’ve come to Partick and Mark Wilson’s team have been in really, really good form, really consistent over this last number of weeks. These can be really tricky games, but I thought we handled it really well. “The football was really good and intense. We scored goals, we were aggressive when we didn’t have the ball and it was a really professional performance. “It’s such a long season. It’s still very early, but seeing that today shows that we’re on the right path.” Celtic fans were thrilled with the win but the Parkhead board still copped flak with banners and chants from the away end. The punters did back the team though and Rodgers said: “Very much so. I will never tell the supporters what to do or feel. “But I don’t think they’ve forgotten the team because they know the support, the players feel it and they get encouraged by it. They gave us great backing all day. ” The Hoops boss was thrilled to blast into the semis in style and is now setting his sights on the Europa League – with the Hoops heading to Belgrade ahead of their group stage opener against Red Star. He said: “Any European competition is a great honour to be in. We always want to be in the Champions League. That’s what I believe the club should be. “But if we’re not there, then of course we can do this competition. “We’re excited by this competition and how far we can go in it. “We’ve obviously got good but tough fixtures. And then we’ll see where we are at the end of it.” Hoops ace Kieran Tierney came through his first 90 minutes of the season and he admitted he’s close to being back to his best. He said: “I’m getting there, there’s definitely still a little bit to go but if you look back the last couple of seasons it’s been stop-start for me so it’s not going to be as simple as just come in and be 100 percent straight away. “That’s why I’ve been so lucky with the gaffer here and the team here that they’ve given me time. Bit by bit I’ll build it up but a good 90 minutes to get under my belt as well and I feel great. “It was a good performance, coming here is going to be tricky, but we’ve done everything you can ask for and a good result.”