Old Firm can open Europe’s eyes after years of anonymity
It’s Friday afternoon in Lyon’s bustling city centre.
A few Rangers players are taking a stroll in the sunshine along Rue de la Barre.
Their identical Castore gear is a giveaway that they’re footballers. But apart from that, they’re unrecognisable.
The locals don’t bat an eyelid and why would they?
While Scottish fans know all about Lyon stars like Moussa Dembele and Memphis Depay, even the most fervent French supporters don’t know anything about George Edmundson or Jordan Jones.
That’s understandable, of course. But the bigger point here hit home on Thursday night in the opening games of the Veolia Trophy at the Groupama Stadium.
Celtic took on OGC Nice in the opening match. The Ligue 1 side were fifth in the table when their season was prematurely ended by Covid-19.
Tucked in behind PSG, Marseille, Rennes and Lille – and ahead of Lyon, Monaco, Bordeaux and the rest.
We’re regularly told the French top flight is one of the best in the world. Part of the
‘big five’ with England, Spain, Germany and Italy.
Now it might only have been a friendly – but Celtic played Nice off the park. Dominated possession, dictated the tempo, created countless chances.
With all the changes in personnel, the 1-1 scoreline doesn’t matter. But they were the better side by far. And Scottish players like Callum McGregor and Greg Taylor were the best on the pitch.
Yet if you asked Nice supporters before kick-off, they probably wouldn’t know who either of them were.
They’ve just spent big to get Morgan Schneiderlin from Everton. Their striker Kasper Dolberg cost them £20million.
And some of their best young players like Khephren Thuram and Amine Gouiri will probably get moves to England for huge fees in a few years.
But you get the feeling that they’d never look to Scotland for talent. Do you think Nice or Lyon have had scouts at Parkhead watching a McGregor or a Taylor? Doubt it.
It’s partly our own fault. We talk our game and players down too much and get embedded in our inferiority complex.
But Celtic’s players are superior to Nice’s. They showed that the other night.
And it was a similar story when Rangers took on the hosts on Thursday. Remember, Lyon beat Juventus in a Champions League last-16 tie before lockdown. We know how good
Dembele and Jason Denayer are from their time spent in Glasgow.
Depay and Bertrand Traore are household names around Europe. But the rest?
Rangers more than matched them. Steven Gerrard’s side out-thought their opponents and were tactically superb.
Lyon paid £30m for their Danish centre-back Joachim Andersen from Sampdoria – but Alfredo Morelos ragdolled him for most of the game.
Incredibly, they forked out £27.5m for ex-Arsenal kid Jeff Reine-Adelaide to provide a creative spark.
But Ryan Kent – before his red card – and Ianis Hagi provided far more of a threat. Even a man down and two goals up, Rangers fringe players like Jones and Brandon Barker caused the French side all manner of problems on the counter-attack.
But again, because they play in Scotland, it will go largely unnoticed.
There’s a snobbery about some of these big leagues. They’ll view the Scottish Premiership as a backwater.
But despite these games being pre-season friendlies, Rangers and Celtic are proper teams now. They proved it in Europe last season.
Gerrard deserves huge credit for his team’s performances at that level, given the state they were in when he took over.
The Old Firm are often criticised by fans of other clubs – but they’re putting Scottish football on the map again with their displays.
We should be talking that up. Their players might never be recognised on the streets of Lyon, Rome or Munich.
But if they keep producing performances on the continent like the other night then clubs around Europe will eventually take note.
We’re told Ligue 1 is one of the ‘big five’ – but Celtic played Nice off the park