Rangers and head coach Danny Rohl prepare for Sunday's fixture at Ibrox
Head coach Danny Rohl has called on Rangers to approach the upcoming Scottish Premiership match against Celtic on Sunday with both passion and tactical awareness.
Both Rangers and Celtic are competing alongside league leaders Hearts for the title, with Hearts currently holding a four-point advantage under Derek McInnes.
Hearts will face Aberdeen the day before the third league encounter of the season between Rangers and Celtic, which is also their fourth meeting overall. Celtic are scheduled to visit Ibrox again the following Sunday for the Scottish Cup.
Rangers sit two points ahead of Celtic in second place, although Celtic have a game in hand against Aberdeen on Wednesday.
"I see my team is ready to take points and then we will see on Sunday,"
said Rohl, who led Rangers to a 3-1 victory at Celtic Park in January.
He added,
"It makes no sense to speak too much about the other side. They are behind us. We have to focus on ourselves. We want to win this game.
Hopefully, both teams try everything and I am confident that we have a big chance to win this game.
We are ready. Do it with a hot heart and a smart mind.
If we do this then we have a big chance, we have a clear idea of what we want to do. We have also some different solutions, how we can hurt them. But let's see."
'No team will be out of race after this game'
Celtic's title defense has been hampered by seven league defeats, while Rangers have been held back by 11 draws in their pursuit of Hearts.
The most recent draw was a 2-2 result at Livingston last week after Rangers had been two goals down, while Celtic suffered a home defeat to Hibernian. The previous weekend, Rangers staged a comeback from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits to defeat Hearts 4-2 at Ibrox.
"My team showed character, big personality in the last couple of weeks,"
Rohl said.
"Also to come back away in Celtic, in the stadium there after 1-0 down, showed that even if the game goes in one direction, what we don't want, we always have a chance to come back.
Yeah, we dropped two points [at Livingston]. We missed two points. But let's turn it in a positive way. At the end, we won one point after 2-0 down.
When you are a manager and you have the chance to play at home this kind of game, then you are also on fire. We are on fire. It was a good training week so far.
I feel the confidence, I feel the belief. It's not just about the shape and the tactic, but it's also about how we go in duels, how we win the balls, how we play forward."
Rohl further commented,
"It's a crucial game, but no team will be out after this game because there are still 27 points you can take. It's two matchdays and you are in the title race again.
It's a crucial one because when you come closer and closer to the end of the season and there is more and more in, then you know every game is important."
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