Brendan Rodgers is ‘comfortable’ with John Beaton officiating Sunday’s Old Firm match, saying that he is one of the country’s most experienced referees.

The Celtic manager landed a two-match ban recently with one game suspended after criticising Beaton publicly for his performance as a VAR official in his side’s defeat to Hearts at Tynecastle, branding the officiating ‘incompetent’ after Yang Hyun-jun was red carded and a penalty was awarded against Tomoki Iwata.

But Rodgers says that his comments about Beaton related exclusively to his performance on that day, rather than his overall competency as a referee, and that he can understand why the Scottish FA have given him the assignment of handling the crucial game at Ibrox.

“For John to be given the game, these games are for the top referees, and I've always said that John Beaton is one of the top referees in the country,” Rodgers said.

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“He's been allocated the game. I'm comfortable with that. He's refereed games that have been there before.

“My point [after the Hearts defeat], like I said before, was for that one game. I wasn't talking about John Beaton's career as a referee. My gripe was on that day.

“They will feel they have to appoint someone who is experienced and John is one of the top, experienced referees in the country.”

Rodgers doesn’t want the officials to be the main focus either ahead of Sunday’s match or afterwards, but he says that referees should be held accountable when their decisions can have such a telling impact on the outcome of games.

“I just think it's the modern game,” he said.

“If you switch on Sky they will have programmes about referees, so I just think there's naturally a focus now on officials. And naturally there will be that because the game is so scrutinised now.

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“And obviously if you're on the field, your performance will always be scrutinised and be looked at, like it will be if you're sat in VAR as well, or at least it should be, because that's what they get paid for. They'll get a salary in their bank for that, and it's not for nothing.

“They're accountable for decision-making in the game. I just think it's a natural part of the game now, whether it's players or officials, there is a real scrutiny on them.”