Rangers star likened to Zinedine Zidane by Turkish icon as Celtic ace hell bent on ending Hampden frustration

Celtic are just 90 minutes away from returning to the home of Scottish football with top-flight rivals Hibs standing in their way of a place in the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup.

Brendan Rodgers’ men remain unbeaten on home soil in all domestic competitions this season and will prove a tough nut to crack once again at Parkhead, despite losing their most recent head-to-head with the Edinburgh club last month.

Meanwhile, Rangers have a weekend off after being dumped out of the competition at the fifth round stage by Queen’s Park. Barry Ferguson’s side can focus all their attention on next week’s Europa League second leg clash with Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce as they look to progress from the last-16.

Rangers star earns shock comparison to footballing legend

Rangers midfielder Mohamed Diomande has been likened to France 98’ World Cup winner and Real Madrid legend Zinedine Zidane by a famed Turkish TV pundit.

Besiktas hero Nihat Kahveci, who now works as a commentator for media outlet TRT, was full of praise for the Ivorian and reckons another player among the Light Blues should will have every top team in the Turkish league scrambling to sign him after the 3-1 Europa League win over Fenerbahce on Thursday.

He said: “I still can’t believe what we watched. But let’s be honest here - it should have been 5-1 and if Cyriel Dessers’ shoulder wasn’t as muscly, it would have been.

“Every top club in Turkey should be fighting to sign him. But there were plenty of others. Mohamed Diomande was brilliant - like the best of Zinedine Zidane - thank God they substituted him.

“And what a player Vaclav Cerny is. Honestly, the goals Rangers scored were like from a Playstation game.”

Celtic ace desperate to end Hampden hurt

Luke McCowan didn’t celebrate Celtic’s League Cup triumph over Rangers in December having found himself cup-tied after playing for former club Dundee in the competition earlier in the season. It’s for that reason the 27-year-old midfielder is hell bent on ensuring his days of having to take a backseat at Hampden are over.

McCowan admitted it was a miserable experience watching on from the stand as his team mates lifted the first piece of silverware on offer this term after a nail-biting penalty shootout, revealing he had to be dragged onto the pitch for the trophy presentation.

“December’s final was horrible,” he declared. “I didn’t even want to go on the pitch. Callum (McGregor) was dragging me on because they understand it’s not just that game, it’s the training and the week before it. It’s everybody pushing each other to make them better.

“But I didn’t even celebrate with the boys really in the changing room. I didn’t play a signle game in it. So come this one, if things were to go our way and you go to the end of the season and you’ve got it, I’m sure I’ll celebrate a bit better.”

Read more: Wayne Rooney puts Celtic flop + Rangers record breaker in his Everton Hall of Fame as he casts golden verdicts