The Celtic team to face Rangers has been announced by Brendan Rodgers.
The Celtic boss had a big decision to make on whether or not to include Michel-Ange Balikwisha in his Ibrox starting lineup for the 12pm kick-off this afternoon.
With two new faces added to the Celtic first-team, Rodgers also had a decision to make on whether or not to include Marcelo Saracchi in today’s Glasgow Derby.
With a lot on the line for Celtic and the possibility of going nine-points clear of Rangers, Rodgers named his strongest possible team for today’s big Ibrox showdown.
Michel-Ange Balikwisha starts for Celtic vs Rangers
It seems that Rodgers has decided to through Balikwisha in for Celtic against Rangers as the Belgian gets an Ibrox baptism of fire.
Here is the Celtic starting XI to face Rangers at Ibrox:
Celtic starting XI: Schmeichel, Ralston, Carter-Vickers, Scales, Tierney, McGregor (c), Hatate, Engels, Balikwisha, Nygren, Maeda
Substitutes: Sinisalo, Yang, McCowan, Shin, Bernardo, Saracchi, Murray, Forrest, Donovan
Very interesting to see Adam Idah nowhere near the Celtic team after being linked with a move to Swansea City this week.
The last time Celtic faced Rangers at Ibrox
Celtic didn’t have their usual winning record over Rangers last season after both clubs faced each other five times across all competitions.
Celtic beat Rangers at Parkhead in the first derby of the season and then went on to win the League Cup final on penalties a few months later.
Rangers won the next two derbies at Ibrox and Celtic Park but in the final tussle of the season, both teams played out a 1-1 draw.
Here is how it all unfolded:
Adam Idah cancelled out a Cyriel Dessers first-half opener as the Celtic striker equalised on the 57th minute of the Ibrox stalemate.
Would Celtic fans accept a similar result today? Many would want the win but a draw would not be a bad result at all.
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