Ange Postecoglou bats aside Celtic treble question as Rangers final branded 'game of great consequence'

Ange Postecoglou refused to talk up Celtic's chances of winning a treble ahead of going head-to-head with Rangers for the first silverware of the season on Sunday.

Celtic are on track to complete a domestic clean sweep due to formidable form that, in addition to reaching the Viaplay Cup final, has saw them establish a nine-point lead in the Premiership title race as well as reach the Scottish Cup quarter-finals, where they will face Hearts, scoring 106 goals in the process.

Postecoglou won two out of three trophies during his first season in charge, losing out on a treble after a Scottish Cup semi-final defeat to Rangers at Hampden, but the Australian insists he is not looking beyond this weekend’s Hampden showdown.

"I'm looking forward to it," he said. "It's a cup final, there's a trophy on the line. It's one of three on offer domestically so we'll try and make sure we're ready for the day, perform well and hopefully get the job done.

Rangers manager Michael Beale and Celtic counterpart Ange Postecoglou with the Viaplay Cup at Hampden. (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group)

"You've got to win one before you even think about winning two, or think about winning three, so [it's not] for me to start talking about stuff that is totally out of our control right now. All we can do is prepare well, and be ready for a big game on Sunday and try to win a trophy. Beyond that, come Monday, whatever happens, we'll have preparation for another game and that's going to be our focus."

Postecoglou is under no illusions of the importance of the game – describing it as one of “great consequence” – but he admits it is impossible to predict the type of match in store in what will be the first Old Firm final since the 2019-20 League Cup showdown, which Celtic won 1-0 despite a dominant performance from Rangers.

“In terms of a spectacle you just don't know,” he said. “Cup finals are one-off games. You just don't know how they are going to go. Sometimes it's decided on moments, sometimes it's pretty tight, sometimes one team is dominant. You just dont know.

“What you do know is it's a game of great consequence. Both teams will be up for it. It will be a fantastic atmosphere and we expect the tempo and intensity to be pretty high when the game starts. You’ve just got to see how all that unfolds.”

Postecoglou believes Celtic can approach the final with confidence having improved further since the last meeting with Rangers at Ibrox on January 2, which finished in a 2-2 draw.

"We certainly feel like since the break we've been stronger," he added. "We had a strong first half of the year to be fair, but we've consistently improved over recent weeks. We've got a stronger squad. We added some players in January who have helped us not just in terms of matches, but in terms of training. The level of quality of training has been raised and we haven't had a midweek game for two or three weeks now which has helped us as well. I just think our performances have got stronger since the mid-season break."