One of the most incendiary rivalries in world football will be renewed tomorrow when Glasgow adversaries Celtic and Rangers meet for the first time in almost three years in a Scottish League Cup semi-final.
Their 400th match will be an Old Firm showdown like no other.
Celtic and Rangers are usually neck-and-neck atop the Scottish league standings – they have a combined 99 league titles – but the chasm between them has rarely been wider.
While Celtic are on course for a fourth-straight Scottish Premiership title, Rangers are in the second tier and scrambling their way back up the league pyramid after being demoted to the bottom division in 2012 for financial mismanagement.
Rangers remain in disarray, with the club’s financial position perilous, and team manager Ally McCoist having just quit. It has led former Celtic striker Chris Sutton to say that his old team could virtually win blindfolded, comments that will stoke up the tension for a match that never lacks an edge.
“There is no comparison with an Old Firm game,” former Rangers midfielder Ronald de Boer told the Daily Mail. This comes from a player who has appeared in a World Cup semi-final for the Netherlands and clasico matches for Barcelona against Real Madrid.
Three years on from their latest meeting there is a fresh appetite for a game that puts Scottish football on the map – even if it is for the wrong reasons.
“Everyone all over the world will be watching, and hopefully we can put on a show for them,” Celtic captain Scott Brown said.
