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The teams are out! A 60,000-strong crowd of Celtic fans – no away supporters – greet the players. We’ll be off in a minute!
Philippe Clement speaks to Sky. “A big one … it’s a massive game … it’s why you love this job … when you are a small boy you want to be engaged in things like this … we were really close [in the 3-3 at Ibrox] … every player is ready to do the job and work really hard … it’s a massive opportunity … everyone would have signed to be in this position at the start of the season or three months ago … we are going to go full to make the dream work.”
Brendan Rodgers talks to Sky Sports. “We just play our game … they are special games but focus on our football … don’t slow down … keep the pressure … keep the intensity … we know how to win the games … it all goes out the window, what’s happened in the past … we look forward and want to perform today.”
Rangers don’t mathematically need to win this afternoon … but let’s face it, they kind of do. Even if Philippe Clement’s team take all three points from Parkhead, they’ll most likely still have an inferior goal difference to Celtic with just two games remaining. Having said that, Celtic’s next match is at Kilmarnock, where they’ve already lost twice this season, both in the Premiership and League Cup. So even if Celtic avoid defeat here, nothing gets decided today†.
†: It kind of does.
If This Match Is Half As Good … dept. A quick reminder of how things panned out when the teams last met.
Celtic make one change to the XI that started the 3-0 win over Heart of Midlothian. Daizen Maeda comes in for Nicolas Kühn, who drops to the bench.
Rangers make two changes after their 4-1 victory over Kilmarnock. One is enforced: Ben Davies replaces the injured Leon Balogun in defence, while Tom Lawrence takes the place of Todd Cantwell, who drops to the bench.
The teamsCeltic: Hart, Johnston, Carter-Vickers, Scales, Taylor, O’Riley, McGregor, Hatate, Forrest, Furuhashi, Maeda.
Subs: Palma, Idah, Kuhn, Nawrocki, Iwata, Bernardo, Bain, Ralston, Welsh.
Rangers: Butland, Tavernier, Davies, Souttar, Barisic, Diomande, Lundstram, Sterling, Lawrence, Silva, Dessers.
Subs: Yilmaz, Cantwell, Dowell, Wright, Roofe, McCrorie, King, Raskin, McCausland.
Referee: Willie Collum.
PreambleBhoys meet Gers in the world series of love. Kick-off is at 12.30pm BST.