It’s time for the biggest show in Scottish Football as Rangers travel across Glasgow to Parkhead to take on their bitter rivals Celtic in the first Old Firm Derby in the Scottish Premiership after four long years. The two most successful clubs in Scotland share a century-old rivalry, one of the fiercest in world football. Rangers’ absence from the top tier since their liquidation deprived the worldwide football fans from this classic encounter in League for a long time which makes this Saturday’s game even more crucial.
Players give everything they have in these games as we can expect a classic at Celtic Park. Here are three player battles those could decide the outcome of the game.
Leigh Griffiths Vs Danny Wilson
Leigh Griffiths has looked unstoppable this season so far. The Scot scored 40 goals in all competitions last season for the Hoops and has started from exactly where he left off the last term. With seven goals and four assists already to his name from nine games in all competitions this season, Rangers’ biggest challenge will be to deal with the Scottish international. Danny Wilson knows the Celtic forward closely from the national setup and will be assigned the duty to deal with the agile and prolific striker. Warburton must ensure that he can stop Griffiths or else he can forget about winning the Derby.
Scott Brown V Joey Barton
Barton, the bad boy of English football, will be cherishing his first ever Old-firm experience. The battle between him and Celtic skipper Scott Brown in the middle of the park will be something to watch out for. The two midfielders had been involved in a battle of words for quite a long time on social media and both will be looking to settle the score. It will be a battle of muscles, passion and nerve but both have to be careful about not getting carried away too much and let the football do the talking.
Nir Bitton V Niko Kranjcar
Rangers with Kranjcar in the side and without him have looked like two very different sides. The Croat is the heart of everything positive for the Gers, the brain of the team. Rodgers will be looking to keep the former Spurs midfielder off-colour and for that, he will assign tough-tackling defensive midfielder Nir Bitton. Kranjcar is an experienced customer and has played a lot of big games throughout his career and stopping him won’t be a cakewalk for Bitton.
