Gio van Bronckhorst has hinted he may have to send out a patchwork line-up at Parkhead but insisted that doesn’t mean Rangers’ Europa League final hopefuls have given up on retaining their Premiership crown.
Gers will cross Glasgow for the final Old Firm showdown of the season on Sunday lunchtime but the Ibrox gaffer admits he may have to keep some of his top stars in reserve ahead of next week’s do-or-die second leg showdown with RB Leipzig.
The Light Blues trail the Germans by a single goal after Angelino’s late strike saw the Bundesliga big guns claim a slender advantage.
But Rangers are also lagging behind in the title race and a win for Celtic would put them nine points clear with just nine to play for.
However, the Hoops’ vastly superior goal difference means Ange Postecoglou’s team can essentially rip the title away from Govan with a victory.
Sending out a second-string team for a derby clash of such huge importance would usually be unthinkable for the Ibrox legions.
Van Bronckhorst, however, insists he has no other option if he’s to avoid the risk of losing further key men having already been forced to face Leipzig without Alfredo Morelos, Kemar Roofe, Aaron Ramsey and Ianis Hagi.
The Rangers boss though is clear that prioritising the Euro clash is not a sign he will accept second best against Celtic as he insisted this month’s Scottish Cup semi-final win over their bitter rivals has renewed Ibrox confidence levels.
“We have to win this game,” he declared. “It’s a totally different approach to what we had in Leipzig. Thursday, the approach was to get a good result to take back to Ibrox.
“On Sunday and next week, we have to win our games so it’s going to be a different approach.
“In that way, we have to go out and make sure we do everything for the win
“Well of course (the win at Hampden) was a big result for us to reach the Scottish Cup final.
“All we can do is prepare well and show we are 100 per cent on Sunday.
“Of course we have the belief. This year’s derbies are in the balance, two wins and two losses.
“But we are six points behind. They have the advantage and we have to make sure we do everything we can on Sunday to get the difference back to three.
“Otherwise it will be very difficult for us to become champions.”
However, speaking form Germany before the team caught a belated flight back to Glasgow, the Dutchman admitted the huge opportunity that awaits against Leipzig on Thursday may mean he have to rest his top performers at Parkhead.
He said: “We’re doing a recovery session and a normal session on the pitch. Then we fly back.
“So we have a short time. It’s always short after the Thursday game in Europe to prepare for the weekend.
“But I think it’s very important to recover well and make sure we have a good look and feel about the players.
“Tomorrow, we make the plan for Sunday.
“It’s still too early to say who’s going to play or not. Especially in these weeks where you have so many games, you have to rotate players at some point.
“But how many players? I will know tomorrow.”
Rangers will believe the deafening power of Ibrox can rattle the Red Bulls and put them on course for a rampage to Seville on May 18.
But vVn Bronckhorst insists those dreams will have to wait until their derby duties have been dealt with.
However, he said: “I think it’s easy. I had my team talk after the game. We closed the Leipzig tie after the game.
“We are going to prepare again for them next week. Our focus is now on Celtic.
“That’s what the players know. We have the recovery and the session today and tomorrow we will have the last session to prepare our players for the game on Sunday.”
