Celtic are weeks away from one of the biggest periods of the season.
After drawing Rangers in the Scottish Cup, their fixture list suddenly looks a lot more daunting.
Martin O’Neill’s side cannot afford any slip ups but they are still competing in three separate competitions.
Failure to win any of these is likely to bring the curtain down on any hopes of resurrecting a disastrous season.
After a run of Livingston at home, Kilmarnock away and the first leg of the Europa League play-off tie against Stuttgart, that’s where things get real.
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Celtic’s season-defining run of fixtures
The block of five games that will have a huge say on how the rest of the season could look begins with a home fixture against Hibernian.
Things then drastically change as the Hoops fly to Germany for the second leg against Stuttgart before the first of two Glasgow derbies in the space of a week.
Ibrox awaits in the Scottish Premiership on Sunday 1 March and then three days later it’s up north to play Aberdeen in the rearranged fixture after the game at Pittodrie was postponed due to the weather.
Rounding off that run is the second Rangers game, this time in the Scottish Cup.
A bumper away allocation could be handed to the Bhoys for that game, which would be a welcome end to a difficult run.
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The mentality of this current crop of players has been called into question a number of times already, but now is a chance to prove them wrong.
Having failed to beat Hearts and Rangers in the league this season, there is a chance to right that wrong at the beginning of March.
Denying their neighbours of silverware in the cup is also just as important, and that should be all of the motivation the club needs.
O’Neill can only do so much, now the players need to have to do it too.
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