Celtic manager Neil Lennon has spoke of his admiration for rivals Rangers stadium Ibrox ahead of their penultimate game of the season.
Celtic won their eight title in a row with Saturday’s win over Aberdeen and their first trip after securing the league is the daunting task of going to Rangers.
Lennon told the Daily Record: “I like Ibrox as a stadium, believe it or not, and I enjoy going there. I look forward to it. It’s a nice stadium, I like that old-fashioned sort of traditional build.”
“The pitch is always excellent and there’s obviously always a cracking atmosphere.”
Rangers beat Celtic 1-0 in the last derby at Ibrox and Lennon spoke on how he was looking forward to the test.
“It tests you – and you have to be tested in football, you have to be challenged and you have to be able to step up to that and thrive. That’s what I want my players to do next Sunday,” he told the Daily Record.
OPINION
Ibrox is one of the great stadiums in Britain, let alone Scotland. Neil Lennon is right to look forward to one of the most intense fixtures in the footballing calendar despite his poor form there previously while in charge of Celtic. The Celtic boss, who is in his second spell at the club, set out a rallying call to his players to tackle the atmosphere and use it to their advantage which is what experience brings in huge games like this one. In his previous spell as Celtic manager, Lennon only won once at Rangers racking up twice as many defeats and draws before leaving the Hoops. Despite this, he did have a great record there as Hibernian manager where he was undefeated. Having just won the title, Lennon’s side can go into the toughest derby in football with a sense of freedom which should let them relax instantly. The last derby at Rangers also ended in a home win and Celtic will be out too redeem that defeat and add to the party of already winning the title. Celtic will definitely go into this one as favourites and will look to make the winning gap even bigger to their rivals.