Kenny Dalglish explains why Celtic “would have preferred” Rangers to stay in the Europa League

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Kenny Dalglish has claimed that he believes Celtic would not have wanted Rangers knocked out of the Europa League this week.

The Ibrox club crashed out after suffering a 1-0 home defeat which led to Philippe Clement’s side failing to make the quarter-finals of Europe’s second-tier competition.

However, Kenny Dalglish reckons that Celtic wouldn’t have wanted that to happen and makes a bold claim that the Parkhead club would have preferred their city rivals to stay in the competition.

Dalglish said [The Sunday Post print edition page 65], “I was surprised that Philippe Clement’s side lost on Thursday. I fancied them to go through.

“However, they just came up short. There will be disappointment about that defeat.

“I also think Celtic would have preferred Gers to stay in Europe as it’s a potential drain on their resources in the coming weeks.”

Now I don’t know about you but I have not met, saw, or spoken to a single Celtic fan who wanted Rangers to stay in the competition.

Even if it meant giving us a slight edge in the title race, the majority feeling amongst the Hoops support that I saw is that they wanted Rangers out of the competition.

That’s what the rivalry in this city is all about and if the shoe was on the other foot, I would be willing to put my mortgage on that being the feelings from the Rangers supporters about Celtic in Europe.

No one wants to see their rivals do well in any competition and that’s what makes the rivalry in this city unique. And as long as that rivalry stays healthy then there is absolutely nothing wrong with it.

However, as Dalglish quite rightly points out, the feeling inside the club may well have been different. Going into the next round would have put more pressure on the Ibrox squad as travelling and two extra fixtures would have demanded more from them.

But as it stands now, Celtic are top of the league for the international break after their Scottish Premiership fixture against Dundee was postponed this morning.

Right now, it’s advantage Celtic and the pressure is now back on Rangers as the chasing team as the fixtures after the break now take an interesting turn.