Rangers coach Damian Matthew believes a sense of mutual respect has been evident in his first two experiences of taking on Celtic.
Michael Beale's key lieutenant admits the fixture has lived up to the hype and it's his belief there's admiration from both camps in terms of tactics and team selection. Rangers were denied a win in the New Year derby after Kyogo's late leveller and the same man proved Celtic's Viaplay Cup hero at Hampden in February. Speaking to Rangers TV, Matthew said: “The home game we felt was a good game with how we responded. Both teams I felt were quite cagey, even going into the Final, it’s a mutual respect in terms of teams but, ultimately, it’s down towho wants to be best on the day and we look forward to it.”
The former QPR coach is relishing more of the same and is utterly convinced Rangers stars will rise to the challenge of heading east with no supporters and keenly aware a defeat extinguishes their already faint title hopes. And he reckons belief starts long before the Ibrox players step off the bus.
He added: "It was my first Old Firm game in January, obviously we experienced it from afar, speaking to the manager over the years, the great games he’s had. When you then play it and that was at Ibrox, with great support, we were very, very close. We then had the Cup Final, that was interesting, because you have a 50/50 split in terms of fans. And you go into this game and you recognise you won’t have that support. But we know going into the game we have great support. That is the most important thing as a player, you can go into any situation and still have the belief and desire to want to play our style.”
The 52–year-old is hopeful long term with boss Beale admitting major changes are afoot this summer. Steven Gerrard's former coach has won every game bar his two encounters with Celtic and Matthew likes the direction of travel of the current side. He said: "If you just look on the league games, it’s exciting where we can go, we’re very respectful of what the other team are doing and that is no issue but we concentrate on us and the way we play and you can see they are really developing into a good team.
“Very good (level of training), You always notice certain games it brings an expectation. As players they have been excellent, as we alluded to earlier with the good games and performances we’ve had. Also interesting we’re getting players back from injury, players who might have been injured and are now getting up to speed. They might not have had the game time but they are training very well and making themselves appealing to manager in terms of what they can offer the manager. That’s really healthy at the moment and the squad is trying to push forward.
“It’s so important to have that competition when you are at a great club like Rangers that is expected. If you notice it’s about us having a team but more important that is the squad. When you make additions in the first half for injury or if you come on late in the game then you have to have that mentality to perform."
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