backyard, a new record transfer acquisition in their ranks and preparing to play a team against whom they haven’t lost a league meeting of significance for over three years.
Asserting the pressure remains all on the home team is not a deliberately contrary or provocative statement. Rather, it is a measure of just how moderate and run-of-the-mill Rangers have become. Glasgow derby, Old Firm derby, call it what you will: how can Celtic, who confirmed the capture of £11 million midfielder Arne Engels on Friday night, possibly stuff this up?
People can sometimes assume that when you’re doing well, and everything is going great, that you just turn up and win,” countered manager Brendan Rodgers in his pre-match press conference. “That’s a very dangerous way to think.” He cited the “emotional” nature of a special fixture.
All well and good of course, but under Rodgers it has tended to be a game where Celtic turn up and win. Granted, it’s a derby, and we all know where we are obligated to fling the form book. But Celtic failing to prevail in the first Old Firm derby of the season borders on the unthinkable, which of course creates its own form of tension.
There won’t be one Celtic fan making their way to Parkhead on Sunday who isn’t fully confident of victory. Likewise, there won’t be one who hasn’t fallen prey to a niggling feeling: what if? What if Celtic don’t turn up? What if Rangers can frustrate their great rivals and perhaps even take the game to them, as they did, to an extent, on the last occasion the teams met in May at Hampden.
That, though, finished the way these clashes so often do these days, with Celtic fans celebrating. Adam Idah’s late winner secured the Scottish Cup on the 57th anniversary of Celtic’s European Cup win in Lisbon.
There is no trophy at stake on Sunday afternoon. What there is, though, is something arguably greater. Some, including Jose Mourinho, might refer to it as football heritage. Glasgow bragging rights stretching all the way back to 1888 lie in the balance, with both teams currently level-pegging on 169 wins each. As well as drawing five points clear of their rivals with a win tomorrow, Celtic can inch ahead of them in history.
What a blow this would represent to Rangers’ pride. What a stark portrayal of the vandalism wrought upon the club by a succession of hubristic and incompetent owners. Even though it looked like progress was being made on that front, the Ibrox fans have been let down by the current incumbents. Ahead of their trip into enemy territory on Sunday morning, Rangers will be given a rousing send-off by their fans from a stadium they last played at on 14 May against Dundee
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