Celtic claims immediately shut down ahead of Rangers after Luke McCowan rant before Old Firm
Former Celtic goalkeeper Alan Rough has hit back at Luke McCowan ahead of Sunday’s Old Firm derby, after bold claims made by the Greens midfielder.
Speaking in an interview with BBC Scotland after Celtic‘s 1-0 win, albeit a 4-2 aggregate loss, over Stuttgart in the Europa League, McCowan doesn’t think any team in Scotland can live with his side.
“We know if we’re at it, no team in that league touches us. We need to have that mentality going in,” said the midfielder, sending a rallying cry to his Celtic comrades ahead of Sunday’s Old Firm clash with Rangers.
However, with Martin O’Neill’s men sitting third in the Scottish Premiership table heading into their trip to Ibrox, McCowan’s fiery interview hasn’t gone down well with everyone.
Alan Rough shuts down Luke McCowan’s Celtic claim
One such figure who wasn’t buying what McCowan said about Celtic was former Hoops goalkeeper Rough.
The 53-cap Scotland international refuted McCowan’s words in a recent edition of PLZ Soccer’s The Football Show, which Rangers fans must be loving.
“They haven’t shown this year that they’ve been untouchable,” Rough said.
“I can’t remember a game where they have been untouchable. They’ve won games through Martin (O’Neill) by just rolling up their sleeves and digging in, getting late goals.
“I haven’t seen the Celtic of what we used to see, just railroading teams.”
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Celtic’s goal difference backs Rough’s response up
It’s certainly a brave thing for McCowan to come out with, and Celtic’s Premiership numbers don’t do much to fight his corner either.
Indeed, the Hoops currently boast a goal difference of plus 21; a very respectable figure in its own right, but as Rough says, not quite the kind of margin that recent Celtic teams have been posting.
Celtic finished the 2024-25 campaign with a goal difference of plus 86, in 2023-24 it was plus 65, and in 2022-23 it stood at plus 80, respectively.
In fact, the last time Celtic’s goal difference fell below that plus 65 tally from 2023-24 was in the 2020-21 campaign, where the Hoops finished second to Rangers in the title race with a plus 49 goal difference.
So, as things stand, this season’s Celtic team is set to be one of their worst-performing sides, both in terms of league finishes and goal difference return for quite some time.
Therefore, whilst Rangers boss Danny Rohl will of course be taking Celtic very seriously and aware of their attacking threats, the Gers head coach was well within his rights to take a jab back at McCowan’s comments too.
It continues to set up a mouthwatering Old Firm on Sunday.