Martin O’Neill believes the serious challenge for trophies facing Celtic this season should be a “wake-up call” for the club, as Danny Rolle admits they have to deliver a silver medal at Rangers this season.
The two clubs will meet for the second time in a week at Ibrox in the Scottish Cup quarter-finals on Sunday.
Hearts ultimately extended their advantage over the leaders Glasgow duo following a thrilling 2-2 draw in the Scottish Premiership.
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Watch highlights from Sunday’s Scottish Premiership match between Rangers and Celtic.
Celtic are now second in the league after their win against Aberdeen, but are still five points behind the Jambos and a further point behind Rangers.
Both clubs face the prospect of a trophy-less season, with St Mirren winning the League Cup and only one of the two clubs advancing to the last four of the Scottish Cup. The last time both happened in the same season was over 70 years ago.
O’Neill: “Challenges from others must be a wake-up call for the club”
Despite Celtic’s spectacular success, winning 13 of their last 14 Premiership titles and a number of cup competitions, this season has been a chaotic one.
“In the big picture, I think this should be a wake-up call for football clubs,” said the Northern Irishman, who was appointed interim manager for the second time this season after being in charge from 2000 to 2005.
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Martin O’Neill says Celtic will respond to Hearts’ challenge, improve at Rangers and aim for ‘big boost’ with win in Sunday’s Scottish Cup
“I would say that fans have probably been spoiled in recent years and in many ways there are no real challenges.
“Being able to get back home for the last six or seven games of the season is great because we were able to do that. But the challenge wasn’t as strong.”
“This is it. Here Hearts arrived on the scene, years before we probably thought they would arrive.”
“Rangers have come in strong and spent money to get good players into the football club.
“So it’s been a challenge all season and certainly the last few years where even though we’ve won some games we’re still trying to pull teams apart.
“But anyway we have a chance, that’s the point.
“I don’t think (Sunday’s game) will have a significant impact (on the title), but in terms of building confidence, of course those things are always important.
“But as far as the league goes, I don’t know, nine games left and what happens.”
On the injury front, 74-year-old left-back Kieran Tierney, who injured his foot in the 2-1 win over Aberdeen, will undergo tests, as will veteran goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, who received an injection in his shoulder after suffering from an illness.
“Kieran’s leg injury is healing, he’s feeling pain in all areas overall so we’ll see tomorrow.
“Kasper trained today for the first time since his injection, so we’ll see how tomorrow goes.”
Rohr: “Cup matches have no impact on title contention”
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Danny Rolle believes Sunday’s Scottish Cup clash with Celtic will have no impact on the Premiership title race.
Meanwhile, Rangers manager Rohr hopes he can silence Celtic’s loud cheers with a repeat of last weekend’s first half, when his side held a 2-0 lead but were ultimately trailed after the restart.
There were over 2,000 away supporters at Ibrox at the time, but in order to comply with cup rules, Rangers handed over the entire Broom Lawn Stand to Celtic on Sunday. That means around 7,500 fans will be roaring at the visitors at Ibrox for the first time since 2018.
Around 7,500 fans will fill the Broomlawn Stand for Celtic’s game against Ibrox on Sunday.
Despite suffering a heavy defeat in the second half against Celtic, Rolle insisted Rangers will go into the game with “belief” and “trust” after receiving positive reports.
The former Sheffield Wednesday manager said: “We talked about the good things and we also talked about the things we need to improve on.
“The last training session was good, especially yesterday. The intensity was good, the mindset was good and I was very focused.
“Today we will work on some details again, then we will have another session and then we will go with the faith and go with the trust. I think this is very important, especially for the 50 minutes.”
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Youssef Cermiti scores a stunning overhead kick to give Rangers the lead against Celtic
“You know better than me, I don’t know the last time Rangers dominated Celtic this much in the first 50 minutes.
“I think this is our focus right now and what we want to do over the course of 90 minutes, obviously 95 minutes and 120 minutes if necessary. I think this is very important.”
Rohr revealed that his players have been training well, adding: “We are still in the (title) fight. Of course we are disappointed with this late equalizer. We know we have to improve, especially in the second half, but we also know we had a big chance to make it 3-0 and I’m not going to talk about that today.”
“But football is football, it’s about decision-making, it’s about concentration, it’s about what we can influence.
“I think this group is ready to fight again and also has the belief that we can beat them.
“The winner will advance to the semi-finals and move closer to the final. This is a separate competition and will not affect the title chances.”
Asked if he felt he had to achieve silver this season, despite taking over a team that had lost confidence after losing 13 points to Hearts in October, he added: “As Rangers manager, you have to do it. As a club, we have to do it too. We have ambitions so we have to do it.”
“We won’t accept the excuse of coming back from 13 points down. That’s part of the job. We got to within two points (of Hearts) but the last two draws were unnecessary.”
