Celtic captain Callum McGregor says the Hoops will examine the Premier Sports Cup final from a few weeks ago to see how they can exploit Rangers today.
The Bhoys travel to Ibrox for the first time this season, hoping to inflict even more misery on their city rivals.
Victory would see Brendan Rodgers’ men move 17 points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership, an almost insurmountable gap for the Gers to claw back.
At Ibrox, however, everything will be against Celtic from the get-go. Indeed, McGregor recently revealed he and his teammates will adopt a ‘siege mentality’ from kick off.
He also explained the champions’ tactical plan and how they will need to play differently from what they did in the cup final if they are to take advantage of Rangers, who, at Hampden, looked to crowd the middle of the park: “There are teams in the league who’ll try certain things to stifle you, whether it’s the build-up or trying to force the ball wide,” he said (The Scottish Sun).
“It’s then about us trying to find a different scenario, a different way and a different solution.
“We’ve got good people in here who understand the game. We’ll be looking at the cup final — Rangers were pretty good in that mid-pitch block so we need to maybe find a different way of trying to exploit that.”
It remains to be seen how Philippe Clement, who is under increasing scrutiny, will approach today’s game.
His side looked to sit in and frustrate Celtic in the cup final a few weeks ago, relying on several long balls and mistakes to get forward.
They are ravaged by several injuries and unavailabilities today, so the Hoops will fancy their chances of heading across the city and winning for the first time since September 2023. Easier said than done, mind you.
