Rangers vs Celtic takes centre stage on Sunday at 12:00 BST, when the two sides meet for the first time this season in a Premier Sports Cup quarter-final at Ibrox. It is already a knockout Old Firm tie, but the timing adds another layer of significance: both clubs arrive with recent European setbacks still fresh in the memory.
For Celtic, the league picture has been strong. They are unbeaten in the Scottish Premiership so far, having beaten Dundee at home in their first league game and then won at Kilmarnock and Dundee United. Earlier in the season they also beat LASK 3-0 in the first leg of their Champions League play-off, only to suffer a major collapse the following week when LASK won 5-1 in Austria and Celtic went out 5-4 on aggregate. Since that defeat, Celtic have responded with four league wins in a row, including a narrow midweek win at St Johnstone before Sunday’s derby.
Rangers have also steadied themselves after a difficult opening. They began the new season with a draw at Dundee United and a home loss to Hibernian, but followed that by beating St Mirren in the League Cup and then winning four league matches in a row. Even so, their European exit remains part of the backdrop. In the Europa League third qualifying round last term, Rangers lost 2-1 to Jagiellonia Bialystok in the first leg before drawing 1-1 at home and dropping into the Conference League play-offs.
That is why Graeme Souness has framed the game as a chance for both clubs to “put a marker down”. The stakes are obvious enough in a cup quarter-final, but this meeting also gives the winner an early advantage in the season’s biggest rivalry. For Celtic, a strong away performance would reinforce their league form and help move on from the LASK disappointment. For Rangers, a home win would underline their recovery and give the support a timely lift after a bruising spell in Europe.
What Scott Brown expects
Scott Brown has described the first derby of the season as the one players want to win early, noting that the aim is to silence the crowd and control the game from the start. He said Celtic will want to keep the ball, dictate the tempo and, if they score first, turn Ibrox into a nervous place. That is a familiar Old Firm theme, but it is especially relevant here with both teams coming in on the back of recent setbacks and both needing a statement result.
The setting, the rivalry and the form of both clubs all point to a match with real consequence. Rangers and Celtic have both found ways to recover domestically after early problems, but Sunday offers something bigger than another league result. It is the first Rangers vs Celtic meeting of the season, and the winner will leave Ibrox with more than a place in the Premier Sports Cup semi-finals.
