Interview: Madjid Bougherra

It was an unforgettable sight and at the point of achieving "something beautiful" the defender chose to wave the standard of Algeria so as not to forget the country that shaped, and continues to shape, him.

"Every Rangers fans knows that, to me, green means more than Celtic. Algeria has a big, big place in my head and I wanted to show my pride in my country if we won," he says, his confidence in a successful outcome illustrated by the fact that he had given the flag to a friend in the stand so it could be thrown to him when the match ended. "But, I have to say, it was not me only who had green. Pedro (Mendes] had it in his (Portuguese] flag."

The 26-year-old dedicated the first major honour of his career to his family in Hadjout, his mother's home town, Annaba, his father's home city, and Dijon, the French city in which he was raised. "Everything was there for me," he says of the "ghetto" district in the Burgundy capital in which he spent the first 22 years of his life. It is where he returns to see his sister and all his friends, yet Algeria, where his parents reside half the year, supplied the strict Muslim with his "education, culture, thinking, values."

Bougherra isn't just playing for his club or the fans when he goes on to the pitch, he wants the reflected glory for Algeria – a country his family remained true to even in an industrialised, harsh corner of western Europe. "We would say our prayers, drink our tea and share our house with extended family the Algerian way in Dijon."

The end of the Scottish season won't allow the defender to kick back and relax. Homecoming for Bougherra means returning to Algeria to prepare for Saturday's World Cup qualifying "derby" against Egypt on Saturday. The outcome of that encounter, and the trip to Zambia on 20 June, will determine how he ultimately reflects on the 10 months since he signed for Rangers in a 2.5 million deal.

"I have given my all for Rangers; now I must give my all for Algeria," he says of two internationals that will have a huge bearing on whether the country can retain hope of reaching a World Cup finals for the first time in 24 years. "Egypt is such a big one for us, the pressure, the build-up feels the same as for the title-winning match. If we beat them, it will top off the championship win. If we lose, it will take the shine off that achievement for me."

Country might vie with Rangers for his footballing affections, but he envisages no other club doing that for the foreseeable future. Four have in the past four years. He enjoyed a loan spell with Crewe in 2006 while still with breakthrough club Gueugnon. The next season he spent with Sheffield Wednesday, before a 2.5m move to Charlton in the run-up to their relegation-condemning campaign of 2007-08.

The presumption was that, had Rangers not claimed the championship, Bougherra would be happy to be packed off to the English Premier League or his boyhood team Marseille in order to earn much-needed poppy for the Ibrox side. He was the new Jean-Alain Boumsong, the next Carlos Cuellar, and that was that. The opportunity to fly the flag for Algerian football worldwide in the Champions League means he isn't entertaining a move on this summer. But, he gives the impression he wouldn't have done so even if he wasn't in possession of the winners' medal his parents have been begging him to send them to show off.

"I don't know why I would change clubs because I have everything in Glasgow. Not just the Champions League, but the sort of football and atmosphere that can bring out the best in me. The people are passionate about the game; they are like Algerians – football is everything. They give you motivation because you are not allowed to lose your focus, to lose games. They will let you know in the streets and you cannot go out, really. I like that. It drives me on to do well, and if you do that you are looked after so well.

"I know all about Carlos, but my situation is different. I know how important a player I am to the fans, and that is important to me. I left Sheffield after I became as important inside six months there, and I didn't feel good about that. I have been given the confidence and the freedom to be myself as a player with the help of the manager, Durranty (Ian Durrant], Kenny (McDowall] and Coisty (Ally McCoist] and that gives me such a good feeling."

Personal satisfaction matters more to him than professional riches. That might be attributed to Islam. In observing his faith he does not drink alcohol, prays five times a day and each year follows Ramadan, a month-long period of fasting wherein food does not pass the lips from sun up to sun down. "For my six years as a professional I have done this, and if you look back to those seasons, Ramadan is when I have produced some of my best form. I don't think of that time as about denial but think of the huge feasts of food at night. It is about discipline and that is a necessary mentality for any athlete, any footballer."

His religion, as filtered through his parents, seems to have taught him humility in that he lives by an un-footballing credo of more than enough is too much. "When you work hard and earn well, it is good to enjoy the good living that earns you. But you don't have to be flash and make sure everyone knows what you have. You need to be subtle; need to respect people. When I go back to my city, I want my friends to see me as having the same values as before. I want them to know I have kept my life simple and don't shove my wealth in their faces."

And Bougherra isn't the sort to shove in the faces of his city rivals that his team are champions. It is possible that Celtic's new manager could be Tony Mowbray, the man who thought he had signed up the centre-back for West Bromich Albion last summer. Bougherra reached agreement on the move with Mowbray, and even completed a medical. Told to go home by the club as they awaited the results, it was then that Rangers made contact, Walter Smith tipped off by the club's sports scientist Adam Owen to the merits of a player he had worked with at Wednesday.

"It now seems destiny that move did not go through and I appreciate Tony Mowbray for not making things difficult for me over the change. It is crazy that it seems as if one minute I could have been with him in England and the next he could be against me at Celtic. If he is they will be getting a very good guy, a nice person. I respect him because he phoned me the next day to say he understood why I was going to a big club like Rangers. I kept good relations with him."

Waving green and white flags... praising potentially the next Celtic manager. Bougherra's presence in Scotland doesn't just make Rangers' backline better. It makes Planet Old Firm appear a better place.