Brendan Rodgers says that Celtic would never be so arrogant as to think the Scottish Cup final against Rangers was a foregone conclusion, despite the unbeaten record his team hold over their rivals this season.
Celtic have won three and drawn one of the four meetings between the sides so far this term, and go into the Hampden showpiece on Saturday on the back of clinching a third league title in a row.
But Rodgers says that while that gives his men confidence, he would never allow complacency to set in among his players, no matter the opponent.
“You can never have that arrogance,” Rodgers said.
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“It’s not how we work. We have a humility in how we work, we respect every opponent we play whether that’s Rangers or Raith or whoever, we have to prepare for the game.
“But we come into the game in the ideal condition. I don’t think there’s any doubt about that. We’ve been on fire the last few months, playing really well.
“There were lots of challenges for us at the beginning of the season - playing every three or four days, when we had some really important players missing. That was a challenge.
“But I think over the course, as the season has built up into the pressure months, the players have been absolutely superb in how they’ve dealt with that.
“So we arrive having won the league in a really, really good way and playing well. We come into this one in a really good condition.
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“Any final is always a challenge and obviously a Celtic-Rangers final is a great occasion. But, for us, it’s really about focusing on our game and how we can win it.
“It can certainly add to the occasion [being an Old Firm game] but, from a football perspective, there’s no different approach to this game than to the other four games we’ve had in the league.
“We want to impose ourselves on the game. Our intention is to win the game, so our game plan and our preparation is all built towards that.”
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