Philippe Clement has hit back at Brendan Rodgers' claim that Celtic will 'have fun' during their clash with Rangers next weekend.
It's all eyes on the big derby match next Saturday lunchtime now after the Ibrox side beat Kilmarnock 4-1 today.
That result means it's as you were at the top of the Premiership table going into the encounter at Celtic Park, with the champions leading the way by three points.
Yesterday, Celtic ran out 3-0 winners over Hearts on home soil, with Rodgers looking forward to the challenge of Rangers next up.
And it appears his comments irked Rangers manager Clement, as he addressed the Northern Irishman's words after his team ran out comfortable winners at Ibrox.
He said: "I heard yesterday that they're going to have fun. So, we can have fun also."
The Belgian then walked off camera as he left the post-match interview live on Sky Sports.
Rodgers' comments read in full: "I said before the first six months were a challenge for everyone and everything. But now you start to see a bit more of what a Celtic team of mine should look like.
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“And still with a lot of work to do to get it to that point. But it’s certainly heading in the right direction.
“Eighty percent of it now is mental. Physically they are in a really good place. This stage it’s all about mentality. You can see mentally we are in a really good place.
“Take nothing for granted, keep our composure, we have a lot of work to do in the week, get our plan ready. And then next Saturday we can have a bit of fun.”
Speaking to the gathered press afterwards, Clement added: “It’s not really respectful towards my team. I will never say things like that about an opponent. But okay, we will see.”
Fabio Silva got Rangers back into the game against the 10 men of Killie after Matty Kennedy gave the visitors the lead prior to Joe Wright's controversial sending-off.
Ben Davies, Tom Lawrence and John Souttar added to the scoreline after the break.
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