Celtic Must Fight to Overcome Rangers in Derby Showdown
Mika Baur insists Celtic cannot pass their way out of trouble in Sunday’s derby – they will have to fight their way through it.
Martin O'Neill’s side were humbled 3-0 by Rangers in the League Cup at Ibrox last weekend, a bruising defeat that stripped away any illusions about where this Old Firm battle will be won. The rematch comes fast, this time at Celtic Park in the Premiership, and Baur is in no doubt about the terms of engagement.
“You will not win it with beautiful football and nice play,” the midfielder warned, cutting straight through any talk of style points.
Last week, Celtic walked into a wall of noise and hostility. Fifty thousand Rangers fans, one-way traffic from the stands, and a Celtic team that never found a way to turn. Baur felt the full force of it.
“You could feel it's a special thing there,” he said of Ibrox. “It was like 50,000 people against you, you should handle that.”
They didn’t. Rangers were ruthless, Celtic ragged, and the cup is gone. But the calendar offers no time for self-pity. The same rivals, the same city, a very different backdrop.
On Sunday, there will be no away section. No blue corner. Just a packed Parkhead, 60,000 Celtic supporters and a demand for a response.
“We have 60,000 on our side, so we should use that. We need everyone,” Baur said. “We players will give 100 per cent on the field and we need everybody else to get that energy back and win on Sunday.”
The message from the dressing room is clear: this is not about flicks and patterns, it is about attitude. Baur has repeated that theme all week.
“I've said a couple of times now, stick together again, get the energy level really, really high on Sunday,” he explained. “Maybe you will score through [beautiful football], but you will win the game on Sunday with a mentality and with energy and that's what everybody should bring into the match.”
Celtic still want to play, of course. This is not a call to lump it long and abandon their principles. Baur stressed that the ball still matters – just not as much as the bite.
“Sure you want to win. That's the first thing and in a couple of months, no one asks how you won,” he said. “You want to play attractive football, if you want to do good with the ball, against the ball. Tactics are really important, but as we all saw last Sunday, it was not about that. It was about tackling back, to run back. It was about that and we should bring that on Sunday.
“You don't want to stop playing good with the ball. It's more about the energy, it's more about the mentality on Sunday, but it should be a good mix.”
Celtic Park will demand a reaction. Baur has laid down the terms. Now the question is simple: after being outplayed and outmuscled at Ibrox, can this Celtic side turn their own stadium into the kind of cauldron Rangers just used against them?
