Celtic Must Outfight Rangers in Upcoming Derby

Mika Baur does not expect Sunday’s derby to be a showcase of Celtic’s “beautiful football and nice play”. He thinks it will be something far more basic – and far more brutal.

A week on from a bruising 3-0 League Cup exit at Ibrox, Martin O’Neill’s side face Rangers again, this time at Celtic Park in the Scottish Premiership. The stage flips completely: from 50,000 hostile Rangers fans to a packed Parkhead with no away support.

Baur has already felt the shock of his first Old Firm.

“You could feel it's a special thing there,” the midfielder said of last weekend at Ibrox. “It was like 50,000 people against you, you should handle that. And on Sunday it's completely different.

“We have 60,000 on our side, so we should use that. We need everyone.”

The message from him is relentless: energy, aggression, mentality. Pretty patterns can wait.

“We players will give 100 per cent on the field and we need everybody else to get that energy back and win on Sunday,” he said.

“I've said a couple of times now, stick together again, get the energy level really, really high on Sunday.

“You will not win it with beautiful football and nice play. Maybe you will score through it, but you will win the game on Sunday with a mentality and with energy and that's what everybody should bring into the match.”

The scars of last weekend are still fresh. Rangers did not out-think Celtic so much as outrun and outfight them. Baur knows it.

“Tactics are really important, but as we all saw last Sunday, it was not about that. It was about tackling back, to run back. It was about that and we should bring that on Sunday.”

He is not calling for Celtic to abandon their style. He wants something added to it.

“You don't want to stop playing good with the ball,” he said. “It's more about the energy, it's more about the mentality on Sunday, but it should be a good mix.

“Sure you want to win. That's the first thing and in a couple of months, no one asks how you won. You want to play attractive football, if you want to do good with the ball, against the ball.”

Celtic Park will roar for vengeance. Baur’s challenge to his team-mates is simple: match the noise with their legs – and their tackles.