FABIO Cardoso, like many of the recent recruits at Rangers, is relishing his first taste of the Old Firm fixture this week. Perhaps because, mercifully, he wasn’t involved in any of them last season.
And with new blood comes new enthusiasm, and there is no apprehension about what lies ahead when Cardoso takes to the field to face Celtic on Saturday.
Before then, there is more for Cardoso and his fellow Rangers defenders to be concerning themselves with a return trip to Firhill to take on Partick Thistle in the Betfred Cup quarter-finals on Tuesday evening. If they are as slack as they were when they shipped two goals at the same venue on Friday night, then they may be limping into the first meeting of the season with the champions having been dispatched from the League Cup, a prospect which doesn’t bare thinking about for Cardoso, and his manager Pedro Caixinha.
“[The Old Firm game] is a massive show, unbelievable, it’s from another world,” said Cardoso. “It’s a really big, big derby that is beautiful for football. Football needs more games like this – the passion the people of Scotland show and our supporters give to us. It’s our life. We know that football is moments - one day you are OK, the other you are not OK. We need that pressure. When the supporters support like they do, they have [the right] to command, to expect big things from us. They give us their all and have the right to expect the same.
“The mistakes have to stop on Tuesday, not on Saturday, because we have one game before.
“It’s always hard to win games, but it was our fault on Friday night. We committed a lot of mistakes in the second half and the other team was smart and took advantage.
“When a team scores two away goals, we have to win the game. We committed too many defensive mistakes and didn’t have control of the game. If we could, we’d play tomorrow to improve.
“This is the oldest derby in the world, and of course after Tuesday I will be looking forward to it. It’s going to be a great game and we’re going to do everything to win it.”
Cardoso may be new to the Glasgow scene, but he isn’t wet behind the ears when it comes to what Saturday’s fixture entails. And he knows the value of keeping his head when all around will no doubt be losing theirs, both in his discipline in the tackle and in sticking to the game-plan handed down by his manager.
Having watched Celtic’s demolition of Rangers on their last visit to Ibrox, there is little arguing with Cardoso’s assessment that his future team-mates were at sixes and sevens as the visitors hit five.
“I am very calm, of course,” he said. “I do everything and go towards every ball like it’s my last ball but I’m calm and respect the other players I play against. I never go to hurt them. Of course, there are red cards and every game that is a possibility but it is not my purpose to injure some player.
“I saw [the 5-1] game, and that’s football. Celtic score first and Rangers lose their head and they don’t control the game and they take their opportunities. That is football. It’s like Friday night, if losing or winning we have to be calm and believe in ourselves to control and kill the game in the right moments.”
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