Feyenoord boss Arne Slot weighs into Celtic-Rangers debate - 'they've simply been a much better club' - and laughs off Kyogo Furuhashi suggestions

Feyenoord head coach Arne Slot has warned his players that Celtic are a different proposition to Rangers as Dutch football looks for a Champions League double against Scotland.

Feyenoord boss Arne Slot has spoken ahead of Tuesday night's match against Celtic.

PSV Eindhoven reached the group stage with a 5-1 thrashing of Rangers in the play-offs and the two countries’ champions now meet at De Kuip Stadium in Rotterdam on Tuesday night.

When asked about PSV’s win by a Dutch journalist, Slot said: “PSV won easily at home, but they were unable to win away. Celtic have only lost to Rangers once in the last six meetings and have been champions nine times in the last 10 years. They have simply been a much better club than Rangers over the last 10 years, although I will now tell the Rangers fans a bit of an insult. If you look at the performances, I think you have to assess them differently than Rangers.”

Slot was a big fan of Celtic’s style of player under Ange Potsecoglou and is also an admirer of opposite number Brendan Rodgers. “I admire them as a team, first of all because they play football, which I like to see,” he said. “They did so last season as well under the former coach. Brendan Rodgers did a very good job at Leicester City, reached the semi-finals of the Conference League with football everybody enjoys watching.”

Slot was linked with the Spurs job before Postecoglou took over. “He implements the same playing style he did at Celtic – it was a joy to watch Celtic last season and this season it’s a joy to watch Tottenham at this moment,” he said.

Meanwhile, Slot dismissed suggestions that his players might target Kyogo Furuhashi’s recurring injury, which required the Celtic medical staff to pop his shoulder back in during the first half of the Scottish champions’ 3-0 win over Dundee on Saturday. Slot laughed: “I just read that Brendan Rodgers said he was able to play which is quite unfortunate because I wouldn’t mind if he didn’t start, because he is a very good player for Celtic. I don’t think we are a team that’s going to do something that will hurt him so he has to go out.

“I think one of my assistants, John de Wolf, would probably punch him in the tunnel before the game when he was a player. At least that’s what he tells me all the time about how things went when they played. But I don’t think this is realistic any more in football now because of VAR. VAR isn’t in the tunnel but I don’t think we will use that tactic. We will defend him the best way we can. We will inform our defenders of his qualities and not his injury.”