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Two new managers in the dugouts today but there’s a big gap in Old Firm experience between them. Danny Röhl is experiencing his first as Rangers manager while Martin O’Neill is about to take charge of his 28th.
Today’s result could have a major impact on how long O’Neill’s second spell as (interim, for now) Celtic boss lasts, as Ewan Murray has been pondering:
Celtic could pay £5m in compensation to coax Kieran McKenna from Ipswich. They could take an even bigger gamble on Robbie Keane. The Scottish champions may opt to give Club Brugge’s Nicky Hayen a first taste of British football. These are all gambles in their own way. Even more than O’Neill? This is debatable.
Starting lineups
Celtic (4-3-3): Schmeichel; Ralston, Trusty, Scales, Sarrachi; McGregor, Engels, Nygren; Maeda, Kenny, Tounekti.
Subs: Sinisalo, Balikwisha, Yang, Osmand, McCowan, Hatate, Murray, Forrest, Tierney.
Marcelo Sarrachi starts ahead of Kieran Tierney at left-back. James Forrest also drops out of the XI that beat Falkirk in midweek.
Rangers (3-4-3): Butland; Djiga, Souttar, Cornelius; Tavernier, Diomande, Raskin, Meghoma; Aasgaard, Chermiti, Danilo.
Subs: Kelly, Aarons, Fernández, Rothwell, Antman, Moore, Gassama, Curtis, Miovski.
James Tavernier gets the nod over Max Aarons on the right, with Mohamed Diomande coming in for Connor Barron in the middle and Thelo Aasgaard preferred to Mikey Moore in attack.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to the Old Firm. It’s got to be better than last time, right? Rangers and Celtic last met at the start of September in a goalless draw that yielded just nine shots in total, a combined expected goals of 0.34 and just the three yellow cards.
In the dugouts at Ibrox that day were Russell Martin and Brendan Rodgers. It all looks very different now. Danny Röhl and Martin O’Neill are the men in charge for this League Cup semi-final at Hampden Park, the first signing a two-and-a-half year deal at Rangers and the latter employed by Celtic on an interim basis at the start of this week two decades after his first spell in charge.
The winners today will head through to play St Mirren in the final on 14 December, with Celtic hoping to defend the title they won for the 22nd time last year.
Kick-off is at 2pm (GMT) and we will have extra time and penalties if necessary, so strap in.
