Celtic would not have wanted Rangers to lose this week in the Europa League, according to Kenny Dalglish’s claims.
Following a 1-0 home loss, the Ibrox club was eliminated, preventing Philippe Clement’s team from progressing to the European Second League quarterfinals.
Kenny Dalglish, though, asserts boldly that Celtic would not have wanted that to occur and believes the Parkhead team would have preferred their city rivals to remain in the competition.
“I was surprised that Philippe Clement’s side lost on Thursday,” stated Dalglish [The Sunday Post print edition, page 65]. I was rooting for them to succeed.
But they simply failed to deliver. That setback will cause disappointment.
“Gers could be a financial burden on Celtic in the upcoming weeks, so I believe they would have preferred to remain in Europe.”
I don’t know about you, but in my experience, not a single Celtics supporter has expressed a desire for the Rangers to continue playing in the league.
The general consensus among the Hoops fan base that I observed was that they wanted the Rangers eliminated from the competition, even if it meant giving us a tiny advantage in the championship game.
That’s the main focus of the rivalry in our city, and if the shoes were on the other foot, I’d be prepared to stake my mortgage on Rangers fans’ opinions of Celtic in Europe.
There is a rivalry in this city that is unlike any other since no one likes to see their competitors succeed in any competition. And there is nothing at all wrong with it as long as that rivalry endures.
But as Dalglish correctly notes, there might have been a distinct vibe inside the club. The Ibrox team would have been under more pressure to perform well going into the following round because they would have had to travel and play two extra games.
However, Celtic leads the league heading into the international break following the postponement of their Scottish Premiership match against Dundee this morning.
The matchups following the break now take an interesting turn, with Celtic now leading and Rangers now under pressure to close the gap.