Rangers reality bites for Barry Ferguson - Celtic Park is no place for hangovers as Brendan Rodgers awaits

Ferguson knows this all well enough. As a player across two spells at Ibrox, he won 15 trophies. The 47-year-old wanted the manic nature of being in the Rangers hotseat when chief executive Patrick Stewart put out the emergency call to replace Philippe Clement. In his three weeks on the job, he’s already experienced the highs of Europa League progression and the lows of being stumped by Motherwell on home soil.

His next assignment is another that can bring extreme joy or desperate pain. Ferguson will take his place in the away dug-out at Parkhead for a lunchtime showdown with Premiership champions-in-waiting Celtic. Lose and Rangers will trail their adversaries by a whopping 19 points and allow Rodgers and Co to get their hands on the title before the league splits.

Not many are giving Rangers a chance. Only Bayern Munich have stormed the Celtic fortress this season. Then there is the added complication of the intoxicating emotional bender that Rangers experienced on Thursday night when they eliminated Fenerbahce on penalties at a frenzied Ibrox to reach the last eight in Europe. Ferguson admitted to a “wee nightcap” in the early hours of Friday morning but he and his players must have woken up feeling like the whole bottle had been drunk.

Rangers cannot afford to feel sluggish. Ferguson admitted as much in his pre-match press assignments. Old Firm derbies are no place for a hangover.

“There won't be [any excuses],” Ferguson said. “For instance, if a player comes in to me and says he's tired, they won't be playing. It's plain and simple. It's in the head. They're fit enough. They're athletes. They're well looked after. They're very professional.

“That's one thing I will give this group of players. They are all desperate. I want them to make my job hard. I want 24 players fit and available so it gives me an issue tonight and tomorrow. My brain will be ticking. I know what formation I'm going to go. In terms of personnel, there's still a few positions up for grabs.”

Rangers defeated Celtic 3-0 at Ibrox when the two teams met at the start of January but domestically, they have veered off the road since. The title is gone, as is the Scottish Cup after that loss to Queen’s Park. Ferguson believes his players are starting to display the characteristics of a team that has the necessary minerals to win across Glasgow.

“I've seen enough already in two and a half weeks,” Ferguson stated. “They're starting to take heed of what we're saying. As I said, it's not always about being a good football team or a nice football team. That's not the case. Sometimes you need to roll your sleeves up and do the dirty side of the game. That's something that we need to improve on.

“That's something that I'm working on, me and the staff. It's something that the players totally understand. How we need to not just approach this game on Sunday, every single game we go into.”

Ferguson comes up against a master of such a fixture. Rodgers has only lost two of his 21 Old Firm ties. Unsurprisingly, the Northern Irishman was taking little heed of fatigue talk among the Rangers squad.

When asked whether Rangers’ extra activity would impact his approach, Rodgers said: “Not really. I think from our perspective, it’s about looking to play our game.

“Our game’s a running game, it’s a pressing game, it’s an intense game, so that’s what we want to play from the very first whistle. I don’t know the Rangers squad, I don’t know the mentalities, but I know that obviously they got through their tie.

“It’s always a mental thing. I had a recent experience with my team at Leicester, where we played Manchester City on the 26th of December away. Peak Man City. And then on the 28th, virtually two days later, we played peak Liverpool. So it was as tough as you get. And the second game, whenever Liverpool had more rest coming into the game than ourselves, we had virtually no rest going into the game and won the game 1-0.

“So physically, of course, it’s exhausting and it’s tiring, but you come into a Celtic-Rangers game, it’s about your mentality as well.”

Rangers added Fenerbahce to a long list of Europa League conquests in recent years to reach the last eight. The Light Blues have seen off Nice, Union Saint-Gilloise, FCSB and Malmo this season and the likes of Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig, Real Betis, Galatasaray, Sparta Prague, Red Star Belgrade, Porto and Braga in previous campaigns, reaching the 2022 final in the process.

Yet despite their impressive European form, Rangers have struggled to make sustained inroads on Celtic’s domestic dominance, winning three trophies since Rodgers first arrived in Glasgow in 2016. The Hoops have claimed 20 and are five wins away from adding another two this season.

When asked about the comparisons between the European and domestic sectors, Rodgers said: “I think it’s congratulations to Rangers firstly to get to the quarter-final. I think that people will look at what Celtic do and see it as being easy, but it’s not easy. You play here, you manage here, a club like Celtic, it’s high pressure. Every game is a must-win game, that mentality.

“A team among our rivals who have done well in Europe, get to the quarter-finals, it shows the consistency and mentality of this team and how well they’ve been doing. But I think we’re very focused on our own selves and we want to be able to bring our performance to the game at the weekend and to see if we can extend our lead.”