Celtic midfielder Arne Engels admits winning ugly would be acceptable in Sunday’s Old Firm match but the Belgian dismissed suggestions the league leaders might have something to prove against Rangers.
Brendan Rodgers’ side have a 16-point lead in the Premiership, with the Premier Sports Cup in their trophy room, and a place in the Scottish Cup semi-finals booked.
Rangers went out of the cup in the fifth round against Queen’s Park and only have Europa League progress to play for with the title race all but over.
However, bragging rights remain significant in Glasgow and Rangers produced a 3-0 win over their rivals on January 2 to deliver Celtic’s first defeat of the domestic campaign.
The nature of the defeat was hard for Celtic to take but Engels simply wants three points on Sunday rather than making a statement.
‘We just want to win and that’s the most important thing,’ the Belgium international said. ‘It doesn’t need to be always pretty. We just need to win and that’s our main focus now on every game.
Celtic midfielder Arne Engels says it doesn’t have to be pretty against Rangers on Sunday
Engels was part of the Celtic side who beat Hibs 2-0 in the Scottish Cup quarter-finals
Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers has a full week to prepare his team for the derby against Rangers
‘We just need to win and don’t need to show everybody how good we are because we showed it already a lot of times.
‘Nobody needs to be motivated for that game.
‘Everybody knows what kind of game it is and what kind of game everybody wants to have.
‘We are really ready for it and everybody is really focused now on that game.’
Celtic will have the advantage of a full week to prepare following their 2-0 Scottish Cup win over Hibernian. Although Rangers had a free weekend, they face Fenerbahce in the second leg of their Europa League last-16 tie on Thursday night.
The Hibs tie came after Celtic’s first free midweek in 11 weeks.
‘Of course it’s nice, we can prepare a little bit more,’ Engels said. ‘It’s always nice to have some training days and also relax a bit.’
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