RANGERS need to forget about Celtic. For now at least. Perhaps at some point in the future these two clubs will be considered equals once again and will compete for trophies on a level playing field. That day, though, seems some way off in the distance. This is a rivalry that is competitive in the modern era only in the loosest of senses.

Celtic have the better manager, the stronger squad, the greater financial resources and have already won two of the three domestic trophies up for grabs this season. Rangers may yet shock them in the Scottish Cup semi-final but, as with last year, it would only represent a minor blip in Celtic’s otherwise unyielding domestic dominance. It may take years before some sort of parity between these two clubs is restored.

Hard as it may be for their fans to accept, Rangers need a more realistic benchmark for their short to medium-term ambitions and it will be staring them in the face this afternoon. Possibly literally. Aberdeen FC was not founded with a view to alleviating poverty among Irish immigrants and aren’t based just across the city, but in every other respect they are the perfect rivals for Rangers in their current state.

The two Glasgow clubs have traditionally been too busy hating each other to pay any attention to what the rest of the country feels about them, but it will be difficult for Pedro Caixinha, his players and the travelling support to avoid the message from the Aberdeen fans this afternoon. It will be the most inhospitable of welcomes.

A rivalry that has tended to be felt more on one side than the other is likely to be reignited in the years ahead and Rangers, for once, will surely find themselves drawn in. The right to be considered the second-best team in the country may be something of a comedown from their previous lofty aims but it is a more realistic target for them right now than setting their sights on “going for 55”. Aberdeen, who have claimed the tag of best-of-the-rest for the past two seasons and are on course to do so again this year, will surely also relish the chance to keep Rangers at bay and below them in the table for as long as they possibly can.

There is history between the clubs, too, of course. And a lot of bad blood. It is difficult to pinpoint exactly when the ill-feeling began to fester but it has been clear for some time that Aberdeen fans dislike Rangers a lot more than they do Celtic. With no local derby to get in a lather about, the Dons have tended to place special emphasis on their matches with the team from Ibrox. Whenever Rangers players and managers in the past have complained that Aberdeen had raised their game against them, there was always a more than decent chance that their claim was based 100 per cent on fact.

The Neil Simpson horror tackle on Ian Durrant in 1988 is always held up as the defining moment for all the subsequent mutual loathing but other events predate that: Willie Johnston stamping on John McMaster’s neck in 1980, Rangers’ jealousy at Aberdeen’s success in the Alex Ferguson years, the Ibrox side roaring back under Graeme Souness on their way to nine-in-a-row, including a final day title win over Aberdeen in 1991.

Since then there have been other notable flashpoints; Fernando Ricksen’s kung-fu kick on Darren Young “to straighten him out”, Kyle Lafferty feigning injury from a Charlie Mulgrew “headbutt”, and numerous examples of anti-social behaviour from both sets of supporters. It will likely be as feisty and cantankerous this afternoon. When Rangers travelled to Pittodrie earlier in the season for the teams’ first meeting in almost five years, the roar that met James Maddison’s winning goal from a last-minute free-kick would have been heard on the oil rigs dotted across the North Sea. The 19,263 who turned out to watch that game remains Pittodrie’s biggest attendance of the season, some 8000 more than paid to see Derek McInnes’ side record a 10th successive home league victory in midweek. It will surely be close to a sell-out once again this afternoon.

Most bookmakers make Aberdeen favourites to win today but how long they retain the balance of power in this relationship will depend on what happens at both clubs in the summer. Caixinha remains an unknown quantity as a manager but will have the second-biggest budget in the country to play with as he looks to remodel his squad for the new season.

McInnes, should he remain at Aberdeen for a fifth full season in charge, may be more concerned with who he is going to lose. The departures of Peter Pawlett and Niall McGinn have already been confirmed, while Ash Taylor and Ryan Jack may also move on. McInnes, though, has already started his own rebuilding work, signing Greg Tansey from Inverness, and others will surely follow.

With Celtic operating in a different stratosphere to the rest, this could well become a more authentic rivalry in the years ahead. Rangers ought to embrace that. Aberdeen certainly will.