Rangers-Celtic derby flames stoked as Martin O'Neill responds to 'old Danny' after comments

Rohl said he would be intrigued to see who O’Neill picked in goal for the Premiership clash in his own pre-match press conference earlier on Friday. “It will be interesting as well, the goalkeeper position, what he's doing now, let's see,” Rohl said when commenting on whether Viljami Sinisalo or Kasper Schmeichel will play against Rangers.

Sinisalo impressed with a number of smart saves in Celtic’s 1-0 Europa League win in Stuttgart on Thursday after replacing Schmeichel, who let in two soft goals during a 4-1 first-leg defeat.

O’Neill was told of Rohl’s comments at his pre-match media conference, which came soon after he arrived back in Glasgow, and the 73-year-old Northern Irishman - a veteran of the Old Firm scene - gave his response.

“So he’s picking our team? Well done, old Danny, well done,” said O’Neill. “He’s only in less than a year himself. He’ll soon know all about it in the next four or five years.

“I must sit down here and see if I can find out…. maybe he might have a choice of some players and maybe I could put my oar in there and find out what he’s doing.

“Listen, sorry, I have to laugh. He’s had a comment about our team, as in the picking of the team? Extraordinary. Absolutely extraordinary. He hasn’t been in Glasgow long.”

The German also revealed his “surprise” that Celtic did not try to beat Stuttgart 3-0, claiming they were happy to stick to 1-0. “He wants to be involved in some of these games,” O’Neill retorted. “I never saw it like that. I mean, we were driven back, because they are actually a very, very good team. They’re in the top four in the Bundesliga. So I’m surprised he made a comment like that.”

How the McCowan comment was taken

Rohl had himself been asked for his reaction to comments from Celtic midfielder Luke McCowan, who claimed after the win over Stuttgart: “We know if we’re at it no team in that league touches us”. The former Sheffield Wednesday manager pointed out his side were second in the league, ahead of Celtic, who had suffered “seven or eight defeats”.

“There’s no need for him to be commenting on my team or our side,” O’Neill said. “I think he possesses a very, very decent team over there, and it’s going to be tough for us to try and get a result. But regardless, we’re still fighting.”

Celtic could go into Sunday’s game nine points adrift of leaders Hearts should they defeat Aberdeen on Saturday, but will have two matches in hand over the league leaders. O’Neill accepts that his team don’t have much room for manoeuvre.

“We’re running out of games,” continued the Celtic boss. “We’ve been trying to catch up for quite some considerable time. We’re still trying to do that at the moment.

“Losing to Hibs [last weekend] was a setback, but it wasn’t mortal. We’re still there. I think we’ve taken 31 from 36 points [in two spells under O’Neill].”

O’Neill feels the reaction to consecutive defeats against Stuttgart and Hibs was over the top. “I think that’s been the case,” the 73-year-old added. “It’s been the case since I managed here way back 20-25 years ago. It’s always been the same. It always seems to be Celtic. It never seems to be anybody else’s football club.

“I remember once that we won the league, I think we won the league and the cup way back one year. We went back in pre-season and lost two pre-season games and the headlines were ‘Celtic in crisis’. We lost two pre-season games. It was brilliant. So nothing has changed. And do you know what? In many aspects, delightfully so.

“I think there’s something really nice about that.”