BRENDAN RODGERS has been talking to Sky Sports about the upcoming Glasgow Derby on Sunday and believes Celtic have put themselves in a good place.
The former Celtic boss also praised Ange Posecoglou for the work he’s done to this point. Mentioning he’s watched the new guys coming in and playing with some of the players he worked with at Celtic.
“Celtic have been brilliant,” he told Sky Sports. “For me, Ange has done a fantastic job there. A lot of new players have come in along with the guys from my time there: Callum McGregor, James Forrest, Nir Bitton.
“They’ve played some terrific football, they’ve got themselves into a great position and whatever happens at the end of Sunday, they’ll still be top and in a really good position.
“But Ibrox is a great place to go and play with the atmosphere. To win there with Celtic is obviously special there, as a player or a manager, and they’ll go on and play with no fear and will go on to win the game.”
On the subject of allocation, Brendan hopes The Rangers swallow their pride and bring back the large away support to the fixture.
“The uniqueness of Celtic and Rangers is the supporters,” Rodgers adds. “To feel a game as Celtic manager against Rangers is such a special occasion. I virtually remember all the games as Celtic manager against Rangers and they’re such tense games.
“I just hope that, going forward, the two teams can get the allocation back because that’s what truly makes it: the spectacle around the world. They’re still great games – I watched the last game which Celtic won 3-0 and they played fantastically well at Celtic Park and the atmosphere was amazing.
“But I think that extra bit comes when you have that 7,000, 8,000 supporters that travel as well because that really brings the atmosphere up a little bit more as well. Hopefully they can get back to those numbers again, but in the meantime – home or away – they’re incredible games to be involved in and if you can win, they’re extra special.”
Rodgers dominated the fixture and regularly beat them on their own patch. It’s a different kettle of fish nowadays with just 700 Celtic supporters inside the ground.
However, if Celtic can frustrate early, the large Ibrox crowd will get on top of their own players pretty easily. It adds a different dynamic to the game for sure, but Celtic did win there under Neil Lennon with just 700 supporters before lockdown.
Celtic fans know it’s not going to be an easy tie, but if they can grab a win, they would be putting a major gap between themselves and their rivals going into the final stretch of games.
It’s all to play for.
