Deila excited at prospect of Old Firm resumption

25 January 2015 01:46

Celtic manager Ronny Deila says excitement is building as his side prepare to resume their Old Firm rivalry with Rangers next week.

The Glasgow giants will face each other for the first time since 2012 when they clash in next Sunday's League Cup semi-final at Hampden.

The Hoops, who are currently top of the Scottish Premiership, will be red-hot favourites for the match against Rangers, who sit second in the Championship.

The Ibrox club continue to be dogged by financial uncertainty nearly three years after they were forced to start life again in the country's bottom tier following liquidation in June 2012.

Despite the disparity in fortunes of the two clubs, Deila is relishing the opportunity of leading his side in an Old Firm fixture for the first time and insists the Celtic players will need to be at the top of their game to win.

"Yeah, of course I am. Everybody is and we are looking forward to the game," Deila said when asked if he was excited about the match.

"It's going to be a big, big day and a big match. But for us it is a football match as well and we will have to perform well to win the game.

"We have to have a good week now. I am looking forward to every game now as we look sharper and also the spirit in the team is better so we are going in the right direction."

Celtic warmed up for the match with an unconvincing performance in a 1-0 win against Ross County at Victoria Park.

The Hoops struggled to break down the County defence, the worst in the country, and needed a slice of luck to win the match with Kris Commons' second half strike taking a huge deflection off Paul Quinn on its way into the net.

"It was lucky it wasn't more when you see the chances. We should have won by more," Deila said of his side's performance.

"It's not right to say that getting the goal was luck because we could have scored a lot more today.

"I think our performance in the first half was good and the first 20 minutes of the second half was very good.

"Ross County defended well like they did at Celtic Park. It's a small pitch so it wasn't easy to get the tempo up but the attitude of the boys was very good.

"Every time we lost it we won it back and kept them under pressure.

"In the end we deserved to win but I would have hoped we would have had more control in the last 10 minutes.

"We tried to play football on the floor and for that you need good pitches and this wasn't the best one.

"You always have to keep working on things but defensively they hardly had a chance so that was very good."

The win moves Celtic three points clear of Aberdeen, who dropped points in a 1-1 draw with St Johnstone on Friday.

The Hoops, who have a game in hand over their rivals, are now firmly in the driving seat as they aim to win their fourth league title in a row.

"I think we have been consistent in our performances for a long while now and we just have to take one match at a time," Deila added.

"We can talk about the league when we get to 1 April but we've put ourselves in a very good position.

"I expect to play good and win matches and we'll see if anyone can follow us. But we have everything in our own hands."

Source: AFP