For Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers, it will be a first experience of a fixture many say is unlike any other.
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The first Glasgow derby of the season kicks off on Saturday afternoon and while there will be some in Scotland giving the game the cold shoulder for various reasons, but many more in the United Kingdom and overseas glued to the game as Rangers travel to the East End to take on Scottish champions Celtic.
Under the five-year plan Rangers put together in the wilderness, they had anticipated a league match with Celtic coming one year before it has.
It was a ideal start for Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers too as he claimed an emphatic win in his first Old Firm match in charge to continue Celtic’s 100percent start to the season and move four points clear of Rangers with a game in hand.
When the game was in the balance in the second half, the Frenchman was again decisive, playing a deft through pass that Scott Sinclair dispatched neatly.
Rangers defender Lee Wallace, like Griffiths and Tierney an absentee when Scotland opened their qualifying account with a convincing win in Malta, has recovered from a calf strain and should lead Mark Warburton’s side out at Celtic Park. Never back down remained the motto however, as they steadily rose up the ranks and finally got back up to the place where they deserved to be.
“We felt comfortable but goals change games”.
Rangers boss Warburton said: “It’s a feisty atmosphere”.
Looking ahead to Celtic’s next match, on Tuesday night Brown said: “We know how hard Barcelona is going to be, but it will be a great occasion for us going over to the Nou Camp”. In the third qualifying round, with Celtic facing extra time against Astana, he embarked on a mazy dribble that won a penalty kick from which he was decisive. “To play the game in the right manner and with the right discipline – fully committed of course, but to make sure we behave ourselves impeccably”.
“I think we were comfortable the first 20 minutes, but then we give away a cheap goal which frustrated us, in terms of men being in the box and the corner, we didn’t deal with that”.
He said: “Moussa could play every week but I have to make the team work”.
But although he accepts yesterday’s performance wasn’t good enough Warburton – who signed 12 new players in the summer – insists it’s too early to judge his team.
“Please don’t write that I want players sent-off, I don’t, far from it, but Barrie was taken out”.
However, he accepted the blame for their crushing defeat after going for broke once Scott Sinclair had made it 3-1 to Celtic just after the hour.
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But when the blue of Rangers and the green-and-white jerseys of Celtic run out to the field on Saturday, all the history of the fixture will come flooding back.
