Skipper expects tougher cuptest

Repeat of league rout unlikely in semi-final, warns Celtic captain

Celtic skipper Scott Brown is not anticipating another thrashing of Rangers in Sunday’s Betfred Cup semifinal at Hampden Park.

The Hoops thumped their Glasgow rivals 5-1 in last month’s Ladbrokes Premiership encounter at Celtic Park.

Brendan Rodgers’ side will go to Hampden four points clear of Aberdeen at the top of the table and unbeaten domestically, albeit they lost 2-0 at home to Borussia Monchengladbach in the Champions League on Wednesday.

But Brown believes the Gers have improved since their last meeting and is expecting a closer contest.

“They have been more solid and have a more steady team as well, it hasn’t been chopped and changed,” said the midfielder.

“It will be a lot tighter. Everyone thinks it is going to be three, four, five nothing for us again because we scored five goals, but it is going to be a lot harder.

“But again, we have the pace quality to score a couple of goals.

“They will play a bit differently. I don’t think they will be as open as they were at Celtic Park, but we will have to see what team they put out and who fancies it more on the day.”

Rangers will take encouragement from last season’s William Hill Scottish Cup semi-final at the national stadium when they beat Celtic in a penalty shootout after a 2-2 draw.

However, Brown insists the difference at the Parkhead club since Rodgers took over from Ronny Deila in the summer is “night and day”.

“We have brought in some great players and that has helped,” he said. and “We have pace all over the team. “We have Moussa Dembele who is scoring goals as well, we have Griff (Leigh Griffiths) who scored 40 goals last season, so we are in a lot stronger place than we were last season.”

The former Hibs player was still shrugging off the effects of the rather chastening defeat by an excellent Borussia Monchengladbach side.

The result left Celtic with one point from a possible nine ahead of the return game in Germany in two weeks’ time.

With Barcelona and Manchester City still to play – the Hoops’ point came in a 3-3 draw with the English outfit at Celtic Park last month – qualifying even for the Europa League looks a tall order.

However, Brown remains confident of playing European football in the new year as he looks for the champions to bounce back against Rangers.

He said: “Games are coming thick and fast and that is a good thing, especially after a defeat. You can start that momentum again and hopefully we can.

“We can’t be too disappointed about last night. They are a great team with the way they played from the back to the strikers and the midfield movement was exceptional.

“We created a couple of chances and lost two slack goals and on another day we could have maybe got a point.

“We still have a chance of getting European football after Christmas, but it is going to be hard. We are going to need to dig deep and results go our way as well.

“Going away from home has always been hard for us in the Champions League, but we have a new manager in charge now, so here’s hoping we can go over there and do something.”