Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has dispelled the narrative that Rangers may be tired when they visit Parkhead this Sunday.
The Ibrox club went the distance in the Europa League on Thursday evening against Fenerbahce, eventually progressing to the quarter-finals of the competition on penalties after 120 minutes and more of energy-sapping action.
Because they played over two hours of football a few days prior to their trip to Celtic Park, question marks have been raised over whether Rangers will be fully ready to go this weekend.
Rodgers, however, thinks they will, and utilised a previous example from his time in England with Leicester City that makes him think Barry Ferguson's men will be up for the challenge: "I don't know the Rangers squad, I don't know the mentalities, but I know that obviously they got through their tie and they'll come to us," he said.
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"As I said, it's always a mental thing.
"I had a recent experience with my team at Leicester, where we played Manchester City on the 26th of December away. Peak Man City. And then on the 28th, virtually two days later, we played peak Liverpool. So it was as tough as you get.
"And the second game, whenever Liverpool had more rest coming into the game than ourselves, we had virtually no rest going into the game. We won the game 1-0.
"So physically, of course, it's exhausting, and it's tiring. But you come into a Celtic-Rangers game, it's about your mentality as well."
The sides have already met three times this season, with Rangers winning the most recent clash by three goals to nil at Ibrox.
Despite a potential desire to serve up revenge this weekend, Rodgers parked that New Year's afternoon long ago: "I think we were pretty clear after it at that time, and I think you only need to see the response," he said.
"At that time, we were 14 points clear. The response from that game puts us at 16 points clear. So, the response to that defeat was very, very good.
"Like I said, it was foreign for me because I never experienced that with my teams before in this game. It was more the response to going behind. We didn't respond to that.
"You can always go behind in games. Things don't go your way in a game. But Rangers were a better team on that day.
"So, we have to accept that. We've responded really, really well. And now you get the chance to build on the lead that we have by performing."
