Martin O’Neill sent clear message to Rangers in Celtic vs Stuttgart
Glasgow is preparing for an Old Firm derby double-header, as Rangers host Celtic at Ibrox in back-to-back games.
Starting on this Sunday, Rangers welcome Celtic to Ibrox for the first of two Old Firm derby clashes.
1 March will see the two Glaswegian rivals meet in the Scottish Premiership, with this latest renewal perhaps carrying the most weight regarding title race implications in a very long time.
Then on 8 March, the pair will meet again at Ibrox, this time to contest a Scottish Cup quarter-final, with Gers hoping to go all the way in this competition, one that they haven’t won since 2021-22.
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Martin O’Neill shows where Celtic priorities lie vs Stuttgart
Before these two mouth-watering clashes, however, Celtic had the small matter of trying to overturn a three-goal deficit against Stuttgart on Thursday night in the Europa League Round of 32.
Martin O’Neill‘s side were embarrassed in a 4-1 defeat to the German side at Celtic Park last week, and so they always knew that progressing to the next round of the competition was going to be a huge ask.
Regardless, O’Neill had stressed in the lead up to the second leg that his and Celtic’s full focus was on their European tie, and that they weren’t already looking ahead to the first Old Firm meeting with Rangers on Sunday.
However, in the way of the starting XI he picked against Stuttgart on Thursday, the highly experienced coach revealed that this probably wasn’t the case.
O’Neill made eight changes to the team that lost to Hibernian last weekend, with Kasper Schmeichel, Julian Araujo, Liam Scarles, Kieran Tierney, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Benjamin Nygren, Sebastian Tounekti and Tomas Cvancara all being dropped.
Predictably then, Celtic weren’t able to complete a miraculous comeback at MHP Arena, but they did emerge victorious on the night, winning 1-0 thanks to a Luke McCowan goal one minute into the game.
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Rangers have golden chance to deal double Celtic blow
Celtic are in the midst of a hectic schedule at the moment, something that Rangers are not, and must take advantage of as such.
Having lost to Hibs on Sunday, Celtic then went to Stuttgart on Thursday night before having to race back to Glasgow ahead of this Sunday’s Old Firm derby.
Then they have to travel to Aberdeen next Wednesday night for a tough away trip to Pittodrie, and then they must go again on the Sunday against Rangers in the Scottish Cup.
Meanwhile, Gers haven’t played since the 2-2 draw to Livingston last Sunday, and will then get another week break in-between the two Old Firm games.
So, Danny Rohl’s side should be considerably more well rested and sharp heading into these two games, and should look to really take it to Celtic as such and use their schedule against them.
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