Key events
I’m going to write the teams down, then we’ll wonder how they might perform.
Celtic, meanwhile, bring in new signing Michel-Ange Balikwisha – Marcelo Saracchi is on the bench – and Arne Engels, with Yang Hyun-Jun and James Forrest dropping to the bench.
What does it all mean? Nico Raskin, one of Rangers’ best players last season, isn’t even in the squad – there’s talk that he and Martin are less than cordial. Otherwise, there are five changes to the side edged 6-0 by Brugge: out go Max Aarons, sent off on Wednesday night, the injured Lyall Cameron, Danilo, Joe Rothwell and Oliver Antman; James Tavernier, Mohamed Diomande and Connor Barron comes in, likewise Mikey Moore, making his first start for the club, and Bojan Miovski, making his debut.
Teams!
Rangers: (4-3-3): Butland; Tavernier, Djiga, Souttar, Meghoma; Barron, Diomande, Aasgaar; Gassama, Movski, Moore Subs: Kelly, Aarons, Rothwell, Dessers, Bajrami, Antman, Fernandez, Curtis, Danilo.
Celtic (4-3-3): Schmeichel; Ralston, Scales, Carter-Vickers, Tierney; McGregor, Hatate, Engels; Nygren, Maeda, Balikwisha. Subs: Sinisalo, Yang, McCowan, Shin, Bernardo, Saracchi, Murray, Forrest, Donovan.
Referee: Marco Di Bello (Italy)
Preamble
Bournemouth v Arsenal; Betis v Villarreal; Como v Cremonese; Köln v Eintracht Frankfurt; Marseille v Lille: all a selection of seventh v second contests, which is what we have awaiting us this lunchtime.
Of course, the Old Firm game is different – a celebration of vicious hatred like no other, regardless of league position. But after a disastrous start to the season, the question today is whether Rangers fans feel greater antipathy towards Celtic … or their own players and manager.
Things could scarcely have gone worse for Russell Martin since arriving at Ibrox this summer, the dazzling purity of his futuristic game-model once again sophisticated beyond the intelligibility of everyone but him. So far this season, The Bears have achieved humiliation in Europe along with draws against Motherwell, Dundee and St Mirren, the sense that his tenure is already coming to an end: defeat today could mean curtains for the curtains.
Nothing, though, could refresh them like a win over Celtic – who also arrive at this game having covered themselves in embarrassment, hoofed out of the Champions League qualifiers by the third-best team in Kazakhstan. That will have stung Brendan Rodgers – perhaps the only manager in football in greater thrall to himself than Martin – and Europe’s premier club competition, simply not the same without him in it.
Most likely, he redeems himself by winning yet another title – in the league, his team have won three from three and have yet to concede a goal. But there is pressure to show he can deliver more than that, a decent run in the Europa League feeling imperative even if, in the meantime, there are cheap laughs to be won kicking rivals when they’re down. And if Celtic were to lose, to this Rangers, serious questions would be asked of his leadership too – or, in other words, this is going to be a lot of fun … for the rest of us.
Kick-off: 12pm BST
