As expected, on day one of the build up to the Old Firm derby we have seen nothing but negative story after negative story about Rangers whilst being told that Celtic are the equivalent of peak Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona.
We should just give them the three points now then eh?
One of the stories, predictably, is that Aaron Ramsey is likely to be missing from the Rangers squad after Wales manager Rob Page gave an update on who was available for their second fixture in the international break. That he posted pictures on himself in training has been ignored by the Scottish press. The midfielder subsequently being rested last night.
Various outlets have twisted what he said into him being a doubt for the derby, however. I’ll let you read for yourself and make up your own mind after his interview with Sky Sports:
“They both struggled towards the end of the game [Gareth Bale and Ramsey].
“You could see both of them were holding their groins and hamstrings.
“They’ve both had a tough 95 minutes.
“We will have another night tonight and make that decision in the morning whether we involve them in the 23.
“They are not going to start so it’s whether we involve them in the 23 but it gives others an opportunity to see what they can do.”
You could tell that Ramsey was struggling at the end of Wales play off tie with Austria, understandably so because he put in a mammoth effort over the 90 minutes but the player himself brushed it off as just cramp when he was asked about his condition after the match.
I’d like to think that Ramsey was never pencilled in to play against the Czech Republic seeing as they know exactly what he is capable of and how many minutes he has played this season, exactly the same situation as his teammate, Gareth Bale.
Ramsey is fiercely patriotic but in the short term, now that he has Wales into the play off final, he has only one goal – leading Rangers with the same heart, drive and quality that he displayed in Cardiff last week.
If he does, we should be just fine.