Philippe Clement insists Rangers’ season isn’t over ahead of Thursday’s Old Firm clash, while Brendan Rodgers vowed Celtic won’t “go soft” despite their 14-point lead in the Premiership Scottish.
The latest opus of this luminaire – live on Sky Sports – comes weeks after the pair met in a controversial League Cup final that Celtic won on penalties.
Clement insists the defeat at Hampden Park proves Rangers can beat the champions, something the Scottish FA’s head of refereeing later admitted. they should have gotten a penalty in overtime while the score was tied at 3-3.
Thursday January 2 at 2:00 p.m.
Kick-off at 3:00 p.m.
However, if the Belgian wants to stage a much-needed victory in this match, he will have to do so without captain James Tavernier who joined a growing list of injured.
Clément: We have to prove they can beat Celtic
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Philippe Clement believes his side have proven 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 match against Celtic]we had the best opportunities and other circumstances too,” said Clément Sky Sports News.
“The team showed it. It’s about showing it again and taking 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, of course. [that is] not [the case].
“We will fight for every match and every result. It’s everyone’s duty and also what everyone wants.
“It’s a new team, with a new long-term project, with young players who are improving. It’s about having the hunger and the desire to win every game. That’s the reason to be from this club and that will never change.”
Rangers come into the game having lost at St Mirren and then drawn against Motherwell, with Clement adding: “Everyone who saw the two games against Motherwell and St Mirren – we were the team that deserved to win those games with as many opportunities as we had.
“We need to be more clinical and efficient and the luck needs to drop more than in these games.”
Rodgers: Celtic will not soften
Brendan Rodgers has won 16 of his 20 Old Firm matches, losing just one
The champions, meanwhile, are unbeaten in their last 27 league matches, but Rodgers insists they are taking nothing for granted against a Gers side who are coming under fire from their own supporters.
“Look, we will always take the pressure,” the Northern Irishman said. “We put pressure on ourselves in every game to win and win well. So nothing changes in that aspect.
“We always stay humble in preparation for games. People look at the gap, but that doesn’t even come into it. We can’t soften, we won’t soften.
“We will play for the next game because we know how much this game means to people.
“I went there last season, in the first match, under pressure and everything. Now I go there with 14 points… but there is no change for us, the mentality is to go perform and try to play our game.
“This pressure will always be there and especially a match at Ibrox without fans.”
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Celtic’s Paulo Bernardo plans to face Rangers on January 2, live on Sky Sports, and says the team are aiming for an even better 2025 – despite just two defeats this year.
Having grown up in a Celtic-friendly family in Antrim, Rodgers knows how much this game means to supporters, regardless of the standings.
“I understand the game – I understood it as a fan – and I understood it from the first game I played as a coach in September 2016,” he said. “I enjoyed every one of them. The developments that come from them are always great.
“There’s always some sort of pressure. I hear about ‘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 play at the best level. For me, I love the occasion, I love the game – it’s an iconic game and one I always want to win.”
Rodgers has usually won them, 16 in total, and has suffered just one defeat in 20 derbies. Victory on Thursday would mean he has a career-best 17 wins against Aberdeen and the Light Blues, more than against any other club.
Watch the Old Firm clash live on Sky Sports Football and Main Event from 2pm on Thursday January 2, kick-off at 3pm.
