Philippe Clement insists Rangers’ season is not over ahead of Thursday’s Old Firm clash, while Brendan Rodgers has promised Celtic will not “go soft” despite a 14-point lead in the Scottish Premiership.
The final installment of this fixture – live on Sky Sports – comes weeks after the two met in a controversial League Cup final which Celtic won on penalties.
Clement insists defeat at Hampden Park proves Rangers can beat the champions, with Scotland’s refereeing chief admitting afterwards they should have been awarded a penalty in extra time when the score reached 3-3.
Thursday, January 2, 2 p.m
Start 15:00
However, if the Belgian is to get a much-needed win in this game, he will have to do so without Captain James Tavernier, who has joined a growing injury list.
Clement: We have to prove they can beat Celtic
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Philippe Clement believes his side have proved they can take on Celtic and insists their season is not over despite trailing their rivals by 14 points ahead of Thursday’s game
“We deserved to win (the last game against Celtic), we had the better chances and some other circumstances,” Clement said. Sky Sports News.
“The team has shown it. It’s to show it again and get the three points.”
Asked if some fans were right to think the season was already over because of Celtic’s lead in the league, he added: “No, definitely not (the case).
“We will fight for every game and every result. This is everyone’s duty and also what everyone wants.
“This is a new team, with a new long-term project, with young players getting better. It’s about hunger and wanting to win every game. That’s what this club is about and that will never change.”
Rangers go into the match having lost at St Mirren and then drawn against Motherwell, with Clement adding: “Everyone who watched the two games against Motherwell and St Mirren – we were the team that deserved to win those games with the many opportunities we had.
“We have to be more clinical and efficient and luck has to fall more than we have had in these games.”
Rodgers: Celtic won’t soften
Brendan Rodgers has won 16 of his 20 Old Firm games, losing just one
Meanwhile, the champions are unbeaten in their last 27 league games but Rodgers insists they are taking nothing for granted against a Gers side under fire from their own supporters.
“Listen, we’re always going to take the pressure,” said the Northern Irishman. “We put ourselves under pressure in every game to win and win well. So nothing changes in that regard.
“We always stay in a humble way to prepare for games. People look at the gap, but that’s not even happening. We can’t soften, we won’t soften.
“We play for the next game because we know how much this game means to the world.
“I went there last season, the first game, under pressure and everything. Now I go there with 14 points… but there is no change for us, the mentality is to go and play and look to play our game.
“That pressure will always be there and especially a game at Ibrox without supporters.”
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Celtic’s Paulo Bernardo is looking forward to facing Rangers on January 2, live on Sky Sports, and says the club are aiming for an even better 2025 – despite losing just two games this year
Having grown up in a Celtic-supporting family in Country Antrim, Rodgers knows how much the game means to supporters, regardless of the context of the scoreboard.
“I understand the game – I understood it as a supporter – and I understood it from the first game I had as a manager in September 2016,” he said. “I’ve enjoyed every single one of them. Their collections are always great.
“There’s always some kind of pressure. I hear talk of a ‘dead rubber’. There’s never a Rangers-Celtic game that’s a dead rubber – not in my book.
“You want to win every game and you want to perform at the very best level. For me, I love the occasion, I love the game – it’s an iconic game and a game I always want to win.”
Rodgers has won them overall, 16 in total, and suffered just one defeat in 20 derbies. Victory on Thursday would mean he has enjoyed 17 career wins with Aberdeen and the Light Blues, more than any other club.
Watch the Old Firm clash live on Sky Sports Football and Main Event from 2pm on Thursday 2 January, kick-off 3pm.
