RONNY DEILA is adamant Celtic remain favourites to win the William Hill Scottish Cup semi-final against Rangers next month despite the dip in form which has led to renewed calls for him to be sacked as manager.
Celtic were last night drawn to play their Glasgow rivals in the last four of the national knockout competition at Hampden next month following their 3-0 victory over Morton at Celtic Park.
Deila’s side ran out comfortable 2-0 winners over Rangers when they played at the same stage of the League Cup last season in what was the first Old Firm game in nearly three years.
However, the Ibrox club have improved significantly since then after undergoing a change of regime and appointing Mark Warburton as their manager. They defeated top six Ladbrokes Premiership opponents Dundee 4-0 at home in their quarter-final on Saturday.
Deila has come under increased pressure from Celtic supporters after successive draws to Hamilton away and Dundee at home saw his side's lead at the head of the top-flight table cut to just four points.
But asked if Celtic would be favourites to prevail going into the game against Rangers on either April 16 or 17, the Norwegian coach replied: “Yes, that’s fair. There’s nothing new there.”
He added: “Of course I want to win the trophy and we now have two more games to hopefully lift it. We have to beat everybody to win the trophy and we are ready for that. Winning the trophy is the most important thing.”
Warburton, meanwhile, has stressed that his side’s main focus would remain on winning the Championship and promotion to the Premiership despite the “media hysteria” which would surround the fixture.
“Yes, it’s a game to look forward to, absolutely, but our priority has to be the league campaign,” he told the official Rangers website. “The biggest game right now is Morton (at Ibrox on Friday night) and the biggest game after that will be the next league game.
“It’s not going to be a ‘massive build-up’ either in the camp – it’s going to be all about our league campaign. When the game comes around, then we can focus on it at the right time.
“I understand it is a big game and a big event and I understand there will be media hysteria, but from our point of view that game is a long way off and between now and then we have a lot of work to do in our league campaign.”
Kenny Miller, a veteran of several Old Firm games for both Celtic and Rangers, revealed his side were confident of their ability to win following their emphatic victory over Dundee at the weekend.
“There was every chance we were going to get them at some point, and as we said after the game yesterday, we don’t fear anyone,” he said. “Whoever we drew was just going to be standing in the way of our goal which is to win the Scottish Cup. I’ve said all along, we have to get past Celtic if we want to win it.
“It was a pretty whole performance from start to finish (against Dundee), and if we can go and emulate that and do the right things which we talk about all the time, then there is no reason why we can’t go and get the right result.”
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