Stiliyan Petrov states what Chris Sutton was like in the dressing room after Celtic-Rangers ‘dead rubber’ claim

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Is there anything such as a ‘dead rubber’ when Celtic and Rangers lock horns?

The Glasgow derby is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, derbies in the world, as its name echoes across the footballing world with a legendary status.

But, on Sunday, as Celtic recorded a 1-1 draw against Rangers at Ibrox, that ‘dead rubber’ topic was brought up.

Celtic had the Premiership title wrapped up, and they travelled to their rivals’ backyard to celebrate their 55th crown and 14th in their last 15 seasons.

On top of that, unexpectedly, Celtic had lost the previous two Glasgow derby games, including on home soil, so there was even more intrigue to the match.

But Chris Sutton threw it out there that this was a ‘dead rubber’, and it sparked an interesting reaction from Stiliyan Petrov.

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Stiliyan Petrov pushes back on Chris Sutton’s ‘dead rubber’ comments about Celtic and Rangers

Those years under Martin O’Neill were legendary, including that Treble triumph, as Petrov and Sutton were two of the biggest names during that period.

But despite Sutton suggesting that the recent derby game was a ‘dead rubber’, Petrov wanted to share what his former teammate was like leading up to these games.

The legendary midfielder explained how Sutton was ‘one of the biggest leaders’ in the dressing room, and he was the first to tell everyone about these types of matches, as he told Sky Sports Football (04/05/25).

“I am going to go back to Chris Sutton, and I am going to disagree with him about ‘dead rubber game’,” said Petrov.

“Chris was one of the biggest leaders in that dressing room. When games like that come. He is the first to push everybody else. He is there to win.

“It doesn’t matter how many points you are ahead, who won the league or how many cups you won previously. He is there to win it. He is one of the biggest characters, and he said ‘dead rubber’!? It’s never a dead rubber, and never will be.”

What did Sutton say before Celtic’s draw at Rangers

It’s pretty obvious that, if Sutton were still playing now, then he wouldn’t talk in such a manner, but everyone knows that he loves a wind-up.

Since becoming a pundit – for whatever platform – he has enjoyed Celtic’s dominance in Scotland, and also rubbed it in the faces of Rangers.

And, leading up to the weekend match, that’s exactly what he was doing, as he told the Warm Up, whilst sitting next to Kris Boyd.

Sutton: “How can you assess Rangers, it is a dead rubber.”

Boyd: “There’s no such thing as a dead rubber.”

Sutton: “It is a dead rubber, What can Rangers do? Close the gap to 14 points?”

Boyd: “So you went into an Old F-rm game thinking it was a dead rubber?”

Sutton: “Well, I’ll tell you the difference between Celtic and Rangers. I touched on this earlier. Mentality. I still speak to people about this. I still can’t fathom that last minute equaliser at Aberdeen, the Rangers bench erupted and celebrated like they did. That was the league finished that day. That is a complete losers mentality there.”