Alan Brazil admits he fears Rangers set pieces ahead of final clash as Celtic singalong gets cut short
Alan Brazil has predicted that Celtic will win the Viaplay Cup final 2-0 but admits he is worried about Rangers from set pieces.
The Old Firm derby’s latest iteration will be at Hampden Park on Sunday (26 February) with the first silverware of the season up for grabs, and the Hoops fan expects to be celebrating afterwards but still has doubts.
He was in his element on his talkSPORT breakfast show on Friday morning (24 February), singing along to fellow Bhoys supporter Rod Stewart and club anthem You’ll Never Walk Alone, before his fun was interrupted as Ibrox favourite The Best by Tina Turner cut him off.
“What are you going for, the score, in the cup final?” co-host Ray Parlour had asked the former Scotland forward.
His answer was: “2-0. [But] I’m worried about Rangers set pieces.”
As he continued his singalong Parlour protested: “There’s a lot of Celtic songs this morning isn’ there? I know you support Celtic. There’s a lot of Rangers fans listening as well by the way.”
Brazil laughed: “They’ve just turned off,” before shouting “get lost!” as Tina Turner cut in to the enjoyment of ex-Arsenal man.
Build up
The preparation to this final has been suitably intense, with Michael Beale engaged in a war of words with Chris Sutton, before an amusingly awkward joint promotion with Ange Postecoglou at the pre-match press conference on Tuesday.
It can only be the Old Firm derby when one game this weekend is taking nearly all the focus, with the added bonus of a trophy on the line.
Beale will be determined to lift one at his first opportunity, with the league title likely to be out of reach even if he wins every game for the rest of the campaign.
Triumph on Sunday, and succeed in defending the Scottish Cup, and from his point of view he will have done virtually all he could this season, having come in during the World Cup break.
Fail to do meet one of those targets, and crucially if he fails to pick up wins against the green and white side of the city, it will be deemed very much a work in progress.
The draw at Ibrox on 2 January will be a point of frustration, but this is the perfect opportunity to make up for it.
In other Rangers news, the club have pulled of a major transfer coup with a deal already signed for a player who was interesting two English giants.