Rivals confirm Covid cases ahead of derby against Celtic

By David Walton

August 24, 2021

Rangers have today confirmed that they’ve identified positive Covid tests in their camp ahead of Sunday’s Glasgow Derby against Celtic.

The Ibrox club announced the news this evening. However, they haven’t identified who the individuals are or how many positive tests they’ve received.

Rangers will face Armenian outfit Alashkert on Thursday night before the first Glasgow derby of the season three days later. Ange Postecoglou’s side will head to Govan in a confident mood after a fine start to the campaign.

There remains a lot of uncertainty surrounding this evening’s news. It’s unclear as to how this may affect Sunday’s clash and the personnel that will be involved.

Celtic were battered by Covid and close contact cases last season. This resulted in the likes of Ryan Christie and Odsonne Edouard missing the first derby of last term. Celtic also had to play a shadow squad against Hibernian and Livingston back in January due to being rocked by a positive case and the close contact rules.

Rangers vs Celtic clash could see plenty of changes, or none whatsoever

It’s important not to blow this out of proportion at the moment. Again, there’s no identification as of yet as to who the individuals are.

As things currently stand in Scotland, close contacts must provide a negative PCR test and be fully vaccinated in order to come out of self-isolation.

However, there’s no denying this is a distraction our rivals could do without. Especially with two massive games coming up over the coming days. Celtic know first-hand just how disruptive Covid can be to match preparation.

Postecoglou, of course, won’t be jumping to conclusions. He’ll still be preparing for Rangers’ best XI to come out of the blocks on Sunday. He has to, as it may not have a damaging effect on their personnel for the game.

But it’s certainly created some talking points. We would all expect some more news on this in the coming days, especially with Rangers playing in under 48 hours.

Let’s see how it all plays out.

In other news, Updated Celtic confirmed signings, loans, exits for 2021/22