Given some of the chatter heading into Sunday’s match between Celtic and Rangers, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the Bhoys haven’t held the power in the derby this season.
Celtic have won both derbies this term, one at Ibrox and the other at Celtic Park. Brendan Rodgers’ side deserved their victory each time and have proven they know how to win these big matches.
The manager touched on this in his pre-match media conference when he suggested his team have been unfairly written off on many occasions since his return.
Rodgers feels that there’s an undue “narrative” surrounding the journey Celtic have taken this season and that, again, nobody is giving the visitors much credit ahead of Sunday.
One pundit – Charlie Mulgrew – reckons that the reigning champions do hold a key advantage when the stakes are highest in these fixtures, instilled in them by the manager.
Charlie Mulgrew on Celtic vs Rangers
The former Bhoys defender told BBC Radio Scotland: “The difference between the two teams, for me, in the past and this year is Celtic’s ruthlessness when they get chances.
“No disrespect to Cyriel Dessers but it seems to me that he needs three or four chances in a derby game, in any game, before he scores.
“For Celtic, Kyogo takes that chance. It’s a half chance at best, he’s outside the box and it goes in the top bin. It falls to Paulo Bernardo and he scores.
“There seems to be that ruthlessness in the final third from Celtic and I don’t know if Rangers quite have that. In the game against Celtic, they won’t make the chances they usually will.
“Going back to Brendan Rodgers, that’s just the coach he is. He knows when it comes to the big occasions he steps up and makes sure his team is there to be counted. He’s proved that he can win these big games. He must just know what to say to his players at the right moment.”
Celtic can prove a point again
Rodgers talked about this game as being one of “opportunity” yesterday. He wants his players to prove the point that writing them off before a ball is kicked is pure folly.
It’s Celtic’s stars who have so far shown they have the mentality and the mettle to come out on top when the derby pressure kicks in.
Rangers are no easy opponent, but until they show they can find the ruthlessness in this fixture that Mulgrew talks about, Celtic deserve to be fancied.