MIKAEL Lustig happily twisted the knife further into Rangers by suggesting their players cheered being drawn against Celtic in the Scottish Cup semi-final because it guaranteed them more time off this summer.
Graeme Murty probably thought he was doing the right thing when he revealed the reaction in the Ibrox dressing room the moment they were paired with their old rivals. It has backfired and then some.
Even the Celtic’s official website yesterday tweeted “be careful what you wish for” in response to the Rangers team’s apparent delight of another Old Firm game. This was a tenth derby game without the men from Ibrox wining a single one of them.
Read more: Brendan Rodgers: I have empathy for Graeme Murty - he's done as much as he possibly can at Rangers
And, on television, Scott Brown said: "They can cheer as much as they want, but I don't think they'll be cheering tonight."
Lustig is not one for going out of his way to create a headline but when asked, justifiably, for his thoughts on it all, he said: “I didn’t really react to be honest. But they probably knew they were going to get some extra days off and get an extra holiday, that’s probably why they were cheering.” Ouch.
Celtic won 4-0 without bringing their A-game to Hampden. They were very good, don’t get me wrong, they dominated Rangers in a Scottish Cup semi-final and, at the same time, had so much more in the tank.
Asked where this ranked in his wins over Rangers, Lustig said: “There have been plenty of them, to be fair. Like I said before the game, though, we like to play here. Rangers couldn’t find a way to do something against us.
“Obviously there was a lot of talk. But we stay calm, we’re humble and we do our talking on the pitch and we’ve won again.
Read more: Neil Cameron: The mystery is why Rangers still find Celtic a mystery...
“Yes, I think it must be damaging [to the Rangers players]. From the start we showed we wanted to play football. Moussa Dembele had one off the post in the first couple of minutes.”
That wasn’t cheek. It was reality. Celtic did find it easy, far too easy, against a Rangers team who need to take a long, hard look at themselves.
Now, Lustig and his team-mates are a win over Motherwell away from history. If Celtic don’t wrap up the title next weekend, then they will do so against Rangers at Parkhead. Then victory in the Scottish Cup final would bring them unprecedented successive trebles.
A player who has emerged as a real star of this Celtic team is Olivier Ntcham who scored with a penalty and, along with Brown, made the Rangers midfield anonymous to the point of invisible.
The Frenchman, still only 22, said: “The performance said a lot about the team. We were very positive and focused. I don’t know if it was a big statement but it was a big result for the club.
“There was a big gap today but the third game was difficult for us. We won 3-2 but it was tough with 10 men for so long. Every game is different.
“I am happy to be part of this season and I would love to be part of a side that wins the Treble. I wasn’t involved in the first cup win this season so it would be nice to be part of this one. The important thing is for the team to win.
“I feel good playing for Celtic and I have a lot of confidence because I am playing a lot of football. I don’t know if today was my best performance, maybe, maybe not, but I know I can always improve. There is more to come from me.
Read more: Tam McManus: Alfredo Morelos must be told it's about Rangers and not him
“You could say Celtic are like the Manchester City of Scotland. Celtic is Celtic though. I hope to win the league here, that’s the most important thing, as well as winning the derbies. I am happy for Manchester City as well.
“It was good to score. I was the second taker so I was always going to hit that penalty, I wasn’t tempted to chip it like Moussa though – no way! I was pleased to score and I enjoyed the game. It would be an amazing feeling to go on and win the trophy.”
Ntcham thanked Brendan Rodgers for signing him last summer and his captain. The partnership he has built with Brown is impressive. Rangers did not know how to cope with their strength and intelligence.
The Frenchman said: “He is a great manager. I am happy to work with him and I think he’s happy to work with me. He always pushes us in training. It was a great decision to come to Celtic as he has improved me a lot as a player, with and without the ball. He’s helped my all-round game.
“Scott Brown is a great player. He’s so strong mentally, players always want to kick him. They get yellow cards, sometimes, like today, they get a red card.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here