Celtic’s starting line-up vs Rangers drew a couple of surprises after Martin O’Neill started Viljami Sinisalo and Junior Adamu at Ibrox.
The Celtic manager returns to Govan for the first time in over 20 years and all the talk about Schmeichel being left out came to fruition, but the big Dane didn’t even make the bench as O’Neill set tongues wagging in the east end of Glasgow.
Speaking pre-match, the Hoops boss confirmed that Schmeichel was not feeling well prior to the Glasgow Derby clash as O’Neill updates the Celtic fans on why the Denmark number one was missing from Ibrox.
No Kasper Schmeichel in the squad at all 😮
Your reaction to the side, Celtic fans…
Kasper Schmeichel’s Celtic absence from Rangers explained by Martin O’Neill
The Celtic boss backed the big Dane as being ‘terrific’ for him during his interim spell as O’Neill explained Schmeichel’s absence at Ibrox.
O’Neill told BBC Radio Scotland, “He was poorly this morning. And really we thought we’d just leave it at that there.
“That’s the case, because I thought that young Sinisalo did really well for us on Thursday. And it’s nice in that aspect, because he’s coming into this particular game having done well on the Thursday.
“But again, I’ve just done the interview. Kasper Schmeichel has been terrific for me in my couple of spells here.
“And we played Stuttgart on Thursday night, and probably one of the reasons that we did do that is the saves that he made against Feyenoord and Bologna.”
Sinisalo’s performance in Celtic’s win at Stuttgart was a display from the Finnish goalkeeper and he deserves his starting spot at Ibrox.
Celtic fans will be hoping for a win and three points on the way to help defend their Scottish Premiership title.
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