It's not about me - but it is: Celtic and Rangers managers can't hide from their Old Firm records

Brendan Rodgers and Philippe Clement weren’t having any of it in their Premier Sports Cup final press conferences when the line of questioning inevitably turned to their own personal fortunes.

Quick to make it all about the club rather than the individual, Celtic manager Rodgers and his Rangers counterpart Clement are too experienced, too long in the tooth to make it about themselves. They like to be viewed as mere pawns in the wider Old Firm chess board. The reality is different.

Only ten months separate Rodgers, 51, and Clement, 50, in age, but it is the former who has edge when it comes to these precise fixtures. Granted, he has been on the Old Firm scene for much longer - two spells from 2016-2019 and then his current 18-month tenure - but his record in such fixtures is extraordinary: played 19, won 15, drawn three, lost one. He is creating a Glasgow derby dynasty.

Philippe Clement and Brendan Rodgers have very different Old Firm records. | SNS Group

Clement, who took charge in October last year, only has one draw and four defeats from his dalliances with Celtic. Any green shoots of domestic growth have been trampled on by the jolly green and white giant from across the city. His best moment came in this competition when Rangers beat Aberdeen last year to win the final 1-0, his only silverware so far in Glasgow. The rest has gone to Celtic under his watch.

Should Celtic prevail at Hampden, then Rodgers will have snared his tenth trophy at Celtic. “I look back on that once I'm finished, and once I'm done,” was Rodgers’ retort when such a number was put to him.

He knows the importance of playing - and beating - Rangers, though. You can tell it is still a fixture that gets his juices flowing. His last encounter with Clement was a 3-0 success at Parkhead, while the two contested the Scottish Cup final back in May at Hampden, with Adam Idah scoring on 90 minutes for Celtic to win 1-0 in a game they far from excelled in.

“I know what it means to people, this game,” smiled Rodgers. “And we have a number of these games throughout the season. You never get tired of them or bored of them. They're an incredible game to be involved in. It's such an iconic fixture throughout the world.

“So, to have the possibility to have maybe four, five, six of them in the season is absolutely amazing. Like I said, they're all challenges, but I think this is what we're built for. The tougher the challenge, then that is what we relish.”

Clement’s only positive moment in an Old Firm match came on April 7 earlier this year when Rabbi Matondo scored a raker in stoppage time to earn a 3-3 draw. Most Rangers managers have a win in such a fixture on their CV by this point in their tenure.

Rabbi Matondo scores for Rangers in a 3-3 draw against Celtic back in April. | SNS Group

“It's not about me,” was Clement’s response when grilled on the pressure to beat Celtic for the first time. “It's about the club. It's about the players. Nothing. It's not about me. It's never been about me in this job, in whatever club. So about that, zero.

“About winning trophies, 200 per cent. About winning games, 200 per cent. So that's what I want against every opponent, to do everything to win games and to do that together with the squad.”

The reality for Clement is that another defeat by Celtic will stunt this team’s progress, of which there has been plenty in the past few weeks. The manager has found a system that works and has young Moroccan striker Hamza Igamane peaking at the right time. Nicolas Raskin has returned to the midfield and put in one of his best performances of his time at Rangers in Thursday’s 1-1 Europa League draw with Tottenham.

That performance against Spurs has raised hopes that Rangers can compete with Celtic at Hampden, given the English Premier League play a similar style to the Scottish champions. “It helps because the preparation is really short,” said Clement of the two ties. “If it’s totally two different styles, it’s even more difficult to prepare really well in this very short time.”

Rodgers, feet up after Tuesday’s 0-0 draw with Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League, was an interested onlooker back home. “I watched the game on Thursday night, and I thought they did very well in the game,” he noted. “I thought it was a really good game to watch. But, yes, it's always about dealing with expectation in these games, and how you can bring the level that you want to within the game.

“So, I think for Rangers, they'll want to bring the level that they've been at over these last three or four games. For us, it's about that consistency, which we've shown right the way through from our pre-season. We want to continue with that.”

Rangers have to deal with the physical recovery of playing Spurs on Thursday. Already defender John Souttar looks set to miss out with a groin injury picked up in that match. Clement must decide whether James Tavernier plays ahead of Dujon Sterling at right-back, which two out of Raskin, Connor Barron and Mohamed Diomande play in the midfield and if Nedim Bajrami is preferred to Ianis Hagi in the No 10 role.

Celtic won the first derby of the season 3-0. | SNS Group

Rodgers’ team selection appears more straightforward. Many of these Celtic players have fond Old Firm memories in the bank. In form right-back Alistair Johnston is expected to be fit, so it is a question of whether Paulo Bernardo or Arne Engels get the nod in midfield. The smart money is on the Portuguese.

And despite Rangers’ renaissance, the smart money remains on Celtic to maintain their stranglehold on this fixture. Only Borussia Dortmund have beaten them this season. Just to add to the occasion, whoever emerges victorious will move ahead in the all-time trophy stakes, with the two pegged on 118 each.

Cup-final derbies are no ordinary affairs and this one has so much riding on it, for the history of the clubs, their respective fanbases, the context of the season, the players and the two managers - whether they like it or not.