It's funny to think there was so much stink surrounding the prospect of an Old Firm friendly match in Sydney earlier this season and now we’ve ended up with a bounce game between the big two in Govan.
The Premiership title is already under lock and key at Parkhead, so today’s latest instalment in this long-running Glasgow sage has been rendered meaningless. Or has it? Callum McGregor is pretty clear. “I don’t think so!”, was the emphatic response to the tongue-in-cheek suggestion this will be a mere friendly encounter. The Hoops skipper knows better and he insisted: “There’s no such thing as a dead rubber in these games. There’s always something to play for.
“You are playing for pride, your supporters – you are playing for the badge. These players understand that, which is part of the reason we’ve been so good in these games. It’s another good test for us to go there with no supporters, go in there with a siege mentality and try to get a positive result. We can go there full of confidence as we go there as champions and we can show our personality. It’s probably the perfect game for us after just securing the league. The focus is right on it again because there’s an expectation and a demand.”
McGregor knows more about this fixture than anyone on the park today and he’s well aware of the psychological warfare involved. Rangers are looking for crumbs of comfort from a painful campaign where they’ve been a distant second best.
McGregor doesn’t want to give them any encouragement for next term. He said: “Of course. There’s always something to play for even if the trophy is done and dusted.
“They will want to go into next season with a bounce on the back of a positive result in the final league game. It’s important we aim to do the same. It’ll be a good game as both teams will go at it. But we want maximum points from the match.”
McGregor will have the game face on and he knows his men will need the same attitude as they look to go behind enemy lines with no Celtic supporters for back-up. Ibrox can be an intimating place – but it can also get uncomfortable for the home side if the visitors are on it.
McGregor said: “They are playing for pride as well. They will want to dent us. We need to go in with a collective mentality, where we know everyone will be against us.
“We have to use it, harness that energy, and try to turn the crowd against them a little bit. The game plan won’t change. We will be aggressive and try to get as much as we can from the game.
“It’s good to have that siege mentality and understand everyone is against you. It can bring out the best in players and hopefully that will be the case in this match.
“It will be tough. When they are up and the crowd is up, it’s a difficult place to play. We will need all aspects of every game we’ve played this season to get the perfect result.”
Celtic have been in party mode this week but there’s no chance they will put the feet up. It’s not how they are built under Ange Postecoglou.
The title was secured at Tynecastle on Sunday and the squad celebrated back at Parkhead in front of thousands of fans. But the players were all back in training on Monday morning, with sights immediately set on Ibrox.
McGregor joked last weekend he’d toast the title success with a cup of tea but it’s the special brew at Celtic Park that will make sure they keep the foot down until the summer.
The PFA Player of the Year contender said: “I had to wait for my cup of tea last week but it was great. If you ask any player, that’s the kind of scenes you want to be involved in and the kind of memories that will last long after you have finished playing.
“We’ve been like that all season. It’s been highly competitive in training because everything has always been on the line. You don’t have that level of success if you’re taking days off.
“The mentality from the manager is we are on it every single day as hard as we possibly can and play every game like a cup final. That will be similar from now until the end of the season. There’s a lot still to play for.
“That drive has been there since day one in terms of the manager coming in. We had a lot of turnaround in terms of players and where we were the season before.
“There were a lot of question marks around the collective and individually. People were being looked at really closely and obviously we had a new manager coming in.
“It was new ideas, a new group of players and it was important we all understood how difficult the season before was. We had to use that as a motivator in terms of moving forward. I think we’ve done that brilliantly.
“We got ourselves back as champions and then the challenge was ‘could we go again, could we get even better?’. I think we’ve answered that in spades this season.”
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