Vanja Dragojevic Prepares for Rangers vs Celtic Derby

Vanja Dragojevic has already felt the heat of Belgrade’s ‘Eternal Derby’. Now he is bracing himself for something he has been told is even more intense.

Next month, the 20-year-old Rangers midfielder expects to step into what many inside the game have sold to him as “maybe the biggest derby on earth”, when Rangers face Celtic in the Premier Sports Cup at Ibrox.

The tie was booked after Rangers’ League Cup win over St Mirren on Sunday, a match in which Dragojevic scored his first goal for the club. One crisp finish, and suddenly his path leads straight towards Glasgow’s fault line.

“We’re really happy that [the Celtic cup tie] will happen,” he said, still fresh from that breakthrough strike.

He refuses to look too far ahead, at least publicly. There is a European assignment on Thursday and he knows the dressing room cannot afford to drift.

“It’s too far away to think about because we have a game on Thursday, we will focus on that,” he insisted. “But when I spoke with lots of players before I came here, everyone said this is maybe the biggest derby on earth. And maybe the craziest one – in a positive way. So I’m really happy that I have the privilege to be part of it and maybe play in it.”

This is not a player unfamiliar with hostility. Dragojevic has already stood in the middle of three or four Belgrade derbies for Partizan, a fixture that stretches far beyond the white lines.

“I played in three or four Belgrade derbies. It was really hard and fired up,” he recalled. “In Serbia, it’s not just about the football. It’s really about much more than this. But I like this. I’m really happy here and I want to have the privilege to play in this one.”

Glasgow, though, has taken him in quickly. The transition from Belgrade to the west of Scotland can be jarring for some. He insists it has been anything but.

“I enjoy it here. This is a great country, with great people. I’m surprised how warm the people are here,” he said. “When I came to the club it was so easy to adapt. Everyone in the city is so nice. I’m feeling really happy here. I’m looking forward to doing everything I can for this club.”

One goal has already nudged him towards centre stage. The next step could be walking out into an Old Firm cauldron and discovering whether Glasgow really does outstrip Belgrade in noise, fury and meaning.