'The Old Firm will have to wait': Bold claim made ahead of Celtic v Rangers despite 'meaning'

No Rangers manager can ever truly downplay the significance of an Old Firm showdown but Kris Boyd believes Giovanni van Bronckhorst could be tempted to field what would not be widely regarded as his strongest starting line-up against Celtic next Sunday.

Steven Davis enters the action as a substitute for Ryan Jack during Rangers' Scottish Cup semi-final win over Celtic at Hampden on April 17. (Photo by Craig Foy / SNS Group)

Defending Premiership champions Rangers need to win at Celtic Park to retain any credible hope of winning a title race which sees them six points behind their great rivals with just four rounds of fixtures remaining.

The match takes place in between the two legs of Rangers’ Europa League semi-final against RB Leipzig and former Ibrox hero Boyd feels the momentous nature of those occasions may persuade van Bronckhorst to shuffle his pack against Celtic.

“The Old Firm will have to wait,” says Boyd. “It will take second prize this week as it stands just now.

“Rangers know the meaning behind it and that it will come after the game in Leipzig on Thursday.

“Whatever happens, Rangers are still going to be in the tie. You’ve seen crazy things happen in football before.

“I don’t expect Rangers to go gung-ho on Thursday. They’ll give themselves an opportunity to nick it the following Thursday at Ibrox.

“So I wouldn’t be surprised if there are areas of the pitch that get mixed up on Sunday.

“If it’s (Ryan) Jack and (John) Lundstram who are left out, for example, I don’t see any problems with (Glen) Kamara and (Steven) Davis coming in as they’ve done it against Celtic before and have won against them.

“Good luck to the manager – that’s why you get paid the big bucks, to make these decisions.”