Celtic plot downfall of Rangers - 'It depends what you do with those days'

Celtic's Jota (R) and Rangers' Aaron Ramsey during the last match between the two at Ibrox.

While the Ibrox club will take on Braga in the second leg of the Europa League quarter-finals on Thursday, Celtic will get extra time to prepare for the tie at Hampden.

Rangers will have played twice before kick-off since Celtic beat St Johnstone 7-0 to reinforce their title ambitions, with their last cinch Premiership match coming on Sunday against St Mirren.

Manager Ange Postecoglou is confident in the ability of his squad to cope with any schedule but will look to make the most of the interval between fixtures.

"It's a benefit because we will use it that way," he said. "It depends what you do with those days. We haven't got a week so we can relax, it's a week where we can put solid work into the players.

"Now, if we had a game, that would still work the same way.

"Our battle at the start of the year was that we didn't have a robust and strong enough squad to cope sometimes with three games in a week and keep our levels up. But with the squad we have got now, I would be confident if we had a midweek game that it wouldn't affect our performance at the weekend."

Postecoglou added on Celtic TV: "But having a full week just allows us to really work hard with the boys and prepare and play our football. We have got that extra time so we are going to use it."

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