Rangers vs Celtic Scottish Cup team news: shock Hoops absence + Rohl gets ruthless with key Ibrox star
Rangers and Celtic team news for today’s crucial Scottish Cup quarter-final clash at Ibrox has been confirmed
Rangers and Celtic team lines for this afternoon’s Old Firm Scottish Cup quarter-final tie have been confirmed - with some huge selection calls made by Danny Rohl and opposite number Martin O’Neill.
The Light Blues boss makes TWO changes to his starting XI from last weekend’s 2-2 Premiership draw with their bitter rivals. Centre-back John Souttar is DROPPED to the bench along with Tochi Chukwuani, with Wolves loanee Nasser Djiga and Mohamed Diomande drafted in. Goalkeeper Jack Butland wears the captain’s armband.
Meanwhile, the Hoops manager has made THREE alterations from Wednesday’s 2-1 win over Aberdeen at Pittodrie. Skipper Callum McGregor is ABSENT from the matchday squad all together along with injured Kieran Tierney (foot) and Tomas Cvancara is benched. They are replaced by Auston Trusty - back from suspension - Benjamin Nygren and Daizen Maeda, with Liam Scales taking the armband and tasked with filling in at left-back.
Tuur Rommens on Rangers vs Celtic
“It was really a disappointment but we analysed the whole game and I think in the first half we played a near perfect game. The second half we had some things that were not good, we have to combine these two things to go on Sunday again.
“We need to be positive; if you only look at the bad things it will not help you on Sunday. If you look at the good things and you want to improve the bad things I think this is the best thing to do.
“We focused on both things; it is important to take the good things into the next game and improve the bad things. You have to combine both to win on Sunday.”
James Forrest on Rangers vs Celtic
“I’ve played in these games for years and you can say that it’s totally different, form can go out the window. You look at the game last week, we were miles off it in the first half and we rectified it in the second half, and the boys turned it around.
“It will be hard, but the manager and the coaches will look at the game from last Sunday and give us all the help they can. Obviously it’s two games against Rangers at Ibrox and these are the games that all the boys and the fans want.
“It was good that we got a good result (at Aberdeen) midweek, so now we can look forward to the game on Sunday. It’s a chance to get to Hampden and to the semi-final, and that’s the focus. Everyone in the changing room will be giving their all.
“It’ll be really good to come out the tunnel, look to the left and see all of our fans there and hopefully we can give them something to shout about throughout the game.”
Rangers vs Celtic confirmed starting line ups
Rangers XI:
Starting XI: Jack Butland (C); Dujon Sterling, Nasser Djiga, Emmanuel Fernandez, Tuur Rommens, Nico Raskin, Mohamed Diomande, Andreas Skov Olsen, Mikey Moore, Ryan Naderi, Youssef Chermiti.
SUBS: Liam Kelly (GK), Jayden Meghoma, John Souttar, James Tavernier, Tochi Chukwuani, Nedim Bajrami, Djeidi Gassama, Thelo Aasgaard, Bojan Miovski
CELTIC XI:
Starting XI: Viljami Sinisalo; Julian Araujo, Benjamin Arthur, Auston Trusty, Liam Scales (C), Reo Hatate, Luke McCowan, Benjamin Nygren, Yang Hyun-Jun, Sebastian Tounekti, Daizen Maeda.
SUBS: Ross Doohan (GK), Tomas Cvancara, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Paulo Bernardo, Joel Mvuka, Marcelo Saracchi, Dane Murray, James Forrest, Colby Donovan