Treble chance? Dembele won’t bet against repeat

MOUSSA Dembele hopes to re-assume the role of match-winning star turn in today’s Old Firm Betfred Cup semi-final. The 20-year-old French striker defied his callow years to score the first hat-trick by any player in this fixture in the league for 50 years as Celtic routed Rangers 5-1 in the east end of Glasgow last month.

While a clever Borussia Monchengladbach team did what the Ibrox side and Manchester City couldn’t when they shut Dembele down in the midweek Champions League tie, he is planning more of the same for Mark Warburton’s men, regardless of what tactical plan the Rangers manager will devise to stop him.

“I hope it will be possible for me to produce another performance like that,” Dembele said. “I am ready to give 100 per cent and if it happens like it did last time then I will be very happy. The priority is to win, that is the first thing in my mind. But if I manage to score then of course I will be happy.

“Maybe they [Rangers] will decide to try something different [to stop me],” he added. “That’s up to them. We are just going to play our game and I will keep doing what I have done since I came here.” Scoring a hat-trick against your main rivals, a perfect one at that, isn’t a bad way to endear yourself to your new supporters. So much have Celtic’s fans bought into their bargain £400,000 signing, they hardly seem to have noticed that last year’s 40-goal talisman Leigh Griffiths hasn’t started since. While Brendan Rodgers may decide to freshen things up and restore the Scotland international up front today, it is unlikely to be done at Dembele’s expense. “The fans will always react when you win a game and I had lots of positive attention after the Rangers game,” said Dembele. “They want to show you how happy they are. But the last game has gone and we need to make a new experience.” While hope springs eternal for today, Wednesday night was a chastening experience for this Celtic team, who had hoped to be more competitive on their own patch against a Monchengladbach side who were minus a handful of their stars.

While this group of players has endured setbacks against Lincoln Red Imps and Hapoel Be’er Sheva and still come through, how they respond to Wednesday will be another test of their character.

Rangers, meanwhile, are desperate to atone for how badly things unravelled for them at Celtic Park in September.

“We will show our character 100 per cent,” Dembele said. “We believe in ourselves but you cannot always win. Sometimes you need to lose to become better and we need to turn this into a positive experience for us.

“We expected Borussia to play football and be exactly as they were. Two mistakes us cost us the game so it is all about learning. We learned a lesson and we won’t make the same mistakes again. I think what happened against Monchengladbach will make us a better team in the long run. We have to focus on Sunday and get a result.

“I think we did everything good – apart from take our chances. At this level you can’t afford to be like that – if you don’t score when the opportunities come along then the other team is going to punish you.

This is football at the top level and it’s absolutely critical that you make the most of your opportunities.”