'Only thing that came close': Ex-Rangers ace reveals which Celtic man's golden moment matched Old Firm memory

Former Rangers title winner Jermain Defoe admits there is only one game in his 23-year career that has matched the intensity of an Old Firm derby as he recalled his three season spell at Ibrox.

Now 42, the striker was originally brought to the club on loan by Rangers head coach Steven Gerrard from Bournemouth in 2019, before signing permanently and becoming a vital part of the club’s invincible 20/21 title winning team.

Defoe scored one of his final goals for the club in a 4-1 thrashing of Celtic before returning to former club Sunderland and retiring shortly afterwards. Part of several Rangers squads on derby day, he remembers the atmosphere fondly.

“I actually said to Graeme Souness that I'd love to go to an Old Firm [before he joined Rangers],” recalled Defoe. “There were a few times when I’d done some Sky with Graeme, and I remember on one occasion when it was an Old Firm, he was sort of pacing up and down, like really sort of anxious. He said to me: ‘J, it’s the best game in the world.’ I thought wow, this is amazing. Someone of his stature, playing for Liverpool and with what he's won and stuff - he loves that football club.”

Jermain Defoe ahead of England's game against Scotland at Hampden Park in 2017. Cr: SNS Group. | SNS Group

Prior to his move north of the border, Defoe was a fan favourite at English Premier League clubs West Ham United, Tottenham Hotspur and Sunderland thanks to his goal scoring exploits. The diminutive striker also played and scored for England at the World Cup in 2010, finding the net a total of 20 times for the Three Lions.

However, despite playing in some of the country’s biggest derby games, Defoe admits the intensity of the Glasgow rivalry took him by surprise, revealing there was only one game that came close to matching the atmosphere he experienced during an Old Firm derby.

“The Old Firm is just on another level,” explained Defoe “When I went up there I was in my late 30s in the back end of my career, I’d seen it all - and then you play a game like that. I’d never experienced anything like this.

Celtic's Mikael Lustig (left) exchanges words with Jermain Defoe as players clash during an Old Firm game at Celtic Park. Cr: SNS Group. | SNS Group

“It’s crazy, you have to put it at the top of the list. The North London Derby, of course, was amazing when I signed for Tottenham. I knew very quickly that it was ’the game’. Then you go to Sunderland and you play against Newcastle and you're just like, wow, we don't get bigger than this. The only thing that came close to that was when I played against Scotland at Hampden Park for England. I came on for about 10 minutes. It was 2-2, [Leigh] Griffith's scored the two free kicks.”

Adding in an interview with Gambling.com: “I remember looking around Hampden during the national anthem. In my 57 caps for England, that was the best atmosphere I've experienced. So to be up there and to play in the Old Firms and to win was just mad."