Venue: Hampden Park Date: 15/12/24 Time: 15:30
Where to watch: The game is live on Premier Sports
On Sunday, it is not merely a League Cup at stake but history as both sides sit neck and neck on a monumental 118 trophies.
Celtic come in favourites as the country’s dominant force and their UCL results are indicative of a side that has taken its game to another level under Brendan Rodgers.
However last year’s winners Rangers look to have turned a corner in recent weeks following a poor start to the campaign, undefeated since October and notching some impressive results of their own in the Europa League.
How did we get here
Celtic swotted all before them as they put Hibernian, Falkirk and Aberdeen to the sword, scoring fourteen goals en route to the final.
Current cup holders Rangers meanwhile comfortably dispatched St Johnstone and Dundee but were given a scare in the semifinal at Hampden when Motherwell led at the break.
Ultimately Cyriel Dessers and Nedim Bajrami’s goals were the difference, saving Philippe Clement from an embarrassing exit.
Domestic steamrollers Celtic
There is no question who the favourites are on this occasion.
Celtic sit nine points clear at the top of the table, undefeated with the season yet to reach the halfway stage.
A goal difference of 40+ is an astounding figure as the side continue to rotate with no noticeable impact on performance.
Nicolas Kuhn looks a cut above in the league and his performance against RB Leipzig will have drawn eyes from across the continent.
The German tops the Premiership’s assist charts and his 3.12 chances created per 90 bettered only by Paulo Bernardo’s 3.13.
Yet behind every machine like performance is the mechanic who keeps everything ticking, and in Callum McGregor, Celtic have a player whose ability to recycle possession is just as dangerous as his eye for goal.
With six league goals, the captain not only sits joint top of the charts but has put away a third of the shots he has taken so far.
Victory on Sunday would bring a 23rd domestic trophy to place him just two off Celtic’s record holder Bobby Lennox.
Igamane the face of revived Rangers
This time last month, Hamza Igamane was afterthought in heated discussions concerning how Rangers could turn their dismal season around.
Losses to Celtic, Kilmarnock and Aberdeen had made winning the title nigh on impossible after only ten games as Igamane had managed a solitary goal against FCSB.
Four weeks on, the Moroccan looks set to play a starring role in helping his side retain the League Cup for the first time since 2011.
With the oft-maligned Dessers guilty of missing too many clear-cut chances, Igamane had the opportunity to make the striker’s berth his own and it’s fair to say he has grabbed it with both hands.
A double against Nice kickstarted a run of five goals in as many appearances, including a terrific finish in Thursday’s 1-1 draw with Tottenham.
Perhaps more impressive than the finish, was the cross that led to it.
James Tavernier’s whipped ball a timely reminder of the talent Britain’s highest ever goalscoring defender possesses.
It has not been plain sailing for the club’s captain this season, having been a lightning rod for the ire of fans furious with a season that has left them below Aberdeen in the table.
Dropped to the bench, Tavernier would have been forgiven for thinking this was the start of an ignominious end to a career that has seen the right-back amass 329 appearances, dating right back to their time in the Championship.
Five trophies in ten years pales in comparison to McGregor but there is a strong case to be made that there could have been even fewer without his contributions over the years.
Europe beginning to show wear and tear?
Celtic have without a doubt exceeded expectations in Europe, suffering a solitary, albeit emphatic defeat to Borussia Dortmund.
The extent of this raised bar crystallised in the disappointment from fans to have only earned a point away to Dinamo Zagreb.
Come Sunday, Brendan Rodgers’ men will have almost averaged a game every three days.
Much has been made of the squad depth the squad have, with Arne Engels, Liam Scales, Luke McCowan and Luis Palma just some of the options from the bench who would star in every other Premiership side.
However the flatness of the draw in Croatia suggests a fatigue that may be just as much mental as it is physical. Most footballers not immune to the grinding machine of modern football and this League Cup final could prove one game too many in such a short space of time.
Meanwhile, for all of their European success that has propelled them into the automatic places of the Europa League table, Rangers do not posses that same quality from the bench.
Too many rotations are unlikely but fortunately Rangers have yet to show that midweek games produce a weakened weekend performance.
So far Clement’s players have won each of the five games domestic games that have followed European fixtures.
Although as the Belgian manager will be acutely aware, a cup final against Celtic is an entirely different different beast to tame.
History favours Hoops
Rangers may be some distance ahead when it comes to the League Cup with twenty-eight wins to Celtic’s twenty-one but the side from the East End have captured seven of the past ten.
What is perhaps more prescient to this tie is Rodgers’ own record versus Rangers.
In nineteen games the Northern Irishman has lost just one Glasgow derby, winning an impressive fifteen.
Celtic were winners in the 2024 Scottish Cup final courtesy of Adam Idah’s added time winner and cruised to a 3-0 victory in September’s fiery clash which saw a grand total of nine yellow cards.
Rangers are a much improved outfit since September but Aberdeen are also unfortunate witnesses to what happens when you think you have finally made ground on the dead cert for this year’s league title.
Philippe Clement may be riding the crest of a European wave, but he is too savvy to know there is nothing quite like a derby hiding to bring you crashing back down to earth.