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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
Ewan Paton

Ange Postecoglou issues Celtic response to Rangers' guard of honour decision

Ange Postecoglou insists it's no big deal that Rangers won't provide a guard of honour to his Celtic team this weekend.

The Hoops have already retained their Premiership crown heading into the sixth and final derby match of the season.

But the Gers players will not line up to clap their opposition onto the pitch at Ibrox tomorrow.

Michael Beale insisted that it would not be the right thing to do. And that doesn't bother Postecoglou, who is adamant that the Gers show respect in other ways.

He said on Sky Sports: "It’s no big deal for me. Those kind of things seem to be a bit symbolic rather than anything real. Respect is shown in different ways and we don’t need a guard of honour to know that.

"There’s respect between the two sides and certainly between the two sets of players. It might be grudging but they know how hard it is to be successful.

"Rangers won it two years ago and we have won it the last two years so that respect is there and we don’t need a guard of honour for that.”

On the game, the Australian added: “It’s still a big game against our rivals, I’m sure our supporters will want us to put on a strong performance and it’s a chance to continue our form for this year and finish the season strongly.

“We’ll put out a team we think will win the game for us but it gives us a chance to look at next year and look at things we want to do and give some guys some game time but against that backdrop we want to win the game and will put a line up we can think can do that.

“Once they’re out there, both sets of players will realise it’s still a game you want to win and they will obviously will have a support there and it will be a great challenge for us.

"There might be more freedom in the play and helpfully that makes it entertaining.

“The fan aspect certainly favours the home side. When we had it at our ground it was unusual when Rangers scored and it all went quiet.

"That eeriness and quiet isn’t something you usually experience at big games so hopefully we can quieten it down a bit. I still think it will be a great atmosphere and Ibrox is a ground it’s certainly tough to get a result there.”

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