‘We’re really proud of Alfredo Morelos because we have seen a marked improvement in his behaviour’ - Steven Gerrard on Rangers striker

In the white-hot atmosphere of the Old Firm derby Alfredo Morelos has invariably lost his cool – whether it is missing a close-range chance or stupidly being sent off.

Rangers' Alfredo Morelos. Picture: Alan Harvey/SNS

While he has scored against every other Premiership team and slammed 12 goals in Europe, he has not covered himself in glory against Celtic.

He has failed to score in nine derbies and saw red at Celtic Park last season when he rose to the bait dangled by Scott Brown.

Steven Gerrard believes that could all change today by asserting that the young Colombian is finally getting the message that he has to channel his aggression in the right way.

This is added to the fact that Morelos, of course, is heading into the fixture having secured Rangers’ place in the group phase of the Europa League with a wonderful winner against Legia Warsaw on Thursday night.

It was his tenth goal of the season so might it be a sign as he aims to break his duck in his tenth appearance against Celtic.

Gerrard said: “We’re really proud of him because we have seen a marked improvement in his behaviour. He’s channelling it in the right way.

“He’s playing with a coolness but he’s still playing the aggressive football that we all want to see because that’s when he’s at his best.

“There was a moment at the end of Thursday’s game. There was handbags with the two teams getting involved, you have a frustrated team and a jubilant team.

“I was a bit disappointed to see it but I did notice Alfredo didn’t go anywhere near it, which was good to see because that’s the type of stuff he doesn’t need to go anywhere near.

“There’s definitely been a marked improvement this season. We’ll continue to give him the support he needs. The senior players will as well.

“If Alfredo’s selected to play and if he’s not selected, he’ll come on for sure. If he is selected, it will be all eyes on Alfredo again.

“I’m sure he knows that, he’s aware of it. All he has to do is continue to keep playing in the right way because he’s in great form.

“He doesn’t have to get involved in anything untoward or let anyone wind him up. He just has to focus on what he has to do for the team, like he did on Thursday night and come out the hero and rightly so.

“Every opposition will do all they can to wind him up, which is life in football. You have to accept that and Alfredo does. He’s not the first player that’s happened to. All he has to do is keep doing what he’s doing from a football point of view and I’m sure he’ll be fine.”

Today, of course, will not decide anything but if Rangers can strike the first blow it would surely engender huge confidence for the rest of the season.

Gerrard feels they are a different team to the one that faced Celtic at the start of last season.

He said: “The mentality has changed. It’s a group of players with more confidence and belief.

“We’ve got better players in the door now. We’ve experienced beating Celtic on a couple of occasions and going close to beating them even at Celtic Park in the second fixture, so I think the mentality and belief changed from the first one.

“Having said that, we still know that Celtic come as a fantastic team with really good players. They are in a good place themselves, they are playing with confidence and scoring heavily, so it’s all set up for a fantastic match. Just because we have more belief and confidence about ourselves doesn’t mean our respect for Celtic changes. We still know they are the team to beat, the team to catch.

“But if we find a performance that comes close to our maximum, any team that comes to Ibrox are going to find it tough to beat us, because we are a good team.”

It may be that Celtic have more derby debutants than Rangers today – with the possibility of three of their back four entering this environment for the first time.

Gerrard said: “It can work both ways. Some can come in and have no fear and just take to it.

“On the other hand, it’s different from the rest. The atmosphere is different and I’m sure they’ll have experienced a different build-up so that has to come into our thinking.

“We watch opposition, we do our analysis and due diligence and try to find strengths and weaknesses and how they play.

“Then we try to put a plan together to exploit their weaknesses and cope with their strengths but that’s very difficult because they have excellent players.

“But so have we. Both sides have been on good form and something’s got to give, that’s what makes it so intriguing.”