Pundit issues ‘frightening’ Celtic claim after Giorgos Giakoumakis twist
Celtic’s goalscoring threat from all over the pitch is “a frightening prospect for Rangers”, according to Noel Whelan.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the ex-Premier League and Aberdeen forward delivered his verdict ahead of the meeting between the two sides in Sunday’s Scottish Cup semi-final.
As quoted by the Daily Record yesterday (15 April), Ange Postecoglou confirmed Giorgos Giakoumakis will miss the game at Hampden Park.
Kyogo Furuhashi made his long-awaited return in the 7-0 win over St Johnstone last weekend (9 April) but is not yet ready to play for 90 or 120 minutes while David Turnbull and James Forrest are available.
Giakoumakis put in a valiant display in the 2-1 win over Rangers earlier this month (3 April) but Whelan has claimed this weekend’s clash is set to be the best Old Firm game this term.
He told Football Insider assistant editor Russell Edge: “They’ve got different players who can finish on the day which is brilliant.
“They have not just relied on strikers, they can get goals from all over the pitch. That’s a frightening prospect for Rangers going into this semi-final.
“This game is building up to be a really good semi-final because of the fact that Rangers won in Europe and Celtic had six different scorers in their last game.
“This is looking like the best Old Firm game this season so far, in my opinion.”
Rangers have not beaten Celtic under Giovanni van Bronckhorst.
They won the first Old Firm of the season 1-0 under Steven Gerrard in Postecoglou’s fourth league game in charge.
In other news, Celtic are set to miss out on a ‘£45million’ windfall due to a ‘massively unfair’ development.