Old Firm looms as potential title decider
Rangers boss Philippe Clement is more excited than he is nervous about Sunday’s keenly-awaited Old Firm derby against Celtic, where a result may have a huge bearing on the destination of the Scottish Premiership trophy this season.
Clement's side is one point behind reigning champion Celtic with a game in hand as title race tensions increase ahead of the Ibrox clash.
It is the first of eight remaining league fixtures for Rangers, who are desperate to wrest the title back from Celtic, and it is the first home Glasgow derby for Belgian boss Clement.
Asked if there were any nerves from within heading into the game, Clement said: “No, I love it. I’m not nervous, I’m excited about it, I’m looking forward to it.
“This is something you need to embrace, not be nervous about. These are great afternoons.
“I have a lot of confidence in my squad and I have a lot of confidence in our fans so those are the challenging moments because you play against a good team who will do their best to beat you and there will be a lot of quality from both sides.
“It’s the only way also to grow as a player, to have challenges, to have tough games, to play against good opponents.
“If you make the next steps into that you go to another level and that’s what I want to do with this club and with the squad next season – to become better and to raise the level time after time with a lot of success and maybe some disappointments along the way because that’s also the way to success. To learn lessons out of that.
“I prefer to have success on Sunday, let’s be clear about that.”
Rangers will need to keep an eye on Celtic captain Callum McGregor, who is expected to return from injury to the Hoops midfield where he was instrumental in guiding his side to a 1-0 win at Ibrox in September, when Michael Beale was Gers boss and a 2-1 victory at Parkhead in December.
Brendan Rodgers has called on his Celtic players to maintain cool heads when they run out at Ibrox and not worry about the potential ramifications of a victory or a defeat.
“It starts with the whole build-up,” the Hoops boss said. “I think it’s important not to get entrenched in the whole storyline because at times the storyline can be that ‘it could a disaster’.
“But for me the storyline is that there is always opportunity. You arrive, you stay calm and you just look to focus on your performance.
“This is one of the greatest, most iconic games in world football but you’ve got to perform and you can only do that by staying calm and looking to play your football.”
Rodgers has lost just one of his 16 matches against Rangers in two stints as Celtic boss, and insisted he has not given too much consideration to how any particular result at Ibrox might leave the title race.
“I haven’t over-thought it,” he said. “I always prepare the team to win, I never think of drawing or losing a game. I always prepare the team to go and win the game and it’s served me well especially in these types of games.
“You can’t win them all, of course, but the mindset is to impose ourselves on the game and then let’s see where we are at at the end of it.
“I always feel really comfortable coming into these [Old Firm] games but that’s only on the back of preparation and the clarity we want to give to the players.
“And also because of how we play. I have always been confident in that and we have come in to a lot of these big games and performed very well.
“It’s not always perfect but we have performed well in them.”
