NafisaCallum McGregor believes Rangers will throw everything at trying to knock Celtic out of the title race.
The Gers head to Parkhead on Sunday knowing their hopes of landing a rare league title are hanging by a thread.
Back-to-back defeats have left them seven points adrift of leaders Hearts with only three matches remaining.
However, Danny Rohl’s side could still play a decisive role in determining where the trophy ends up by taking points away from Celtic this weekend.
The Hoops have not beaten Rangers inside 90 minutes in a Glasgow derby since September 2024, a remarkable run stretching across 20 months and nine matches.
Serial trophy winner McGregor knows the reigning champions need to be near perfect if they are to keep their dream of five-in-a-row alive.
But the experienced captain is fully aware Rangers will be highly motivated to crush Celtic’s hopes of securing a record-breaking 56th league title.
He told Celtic TV: “Yeah, I think there’s probably two sides to that.
“You obviously just take the game in isolation as it always is, they’re always tough games.
“Generally, the team that does the most on the day will be the ones that come out on top, and then you’ve got to look at the bigger picture where, of course, what happened to them at the weekend was disappointing.
“Then obviously they’ll have the motivation to try and stop us from going on and trying to achieve what we’re trying to achieve.
“So you have to factor it all into your thinking and your preparation but then ultimately when the whistle goes, there’s no hiding place.
“It’s 11 v 11 plus the subs that will come on and impact the game. We have to find a way to make sure that we win the game and that’s ultimately what will be at stake.”
One of Celtic’s most successful players in modern history, McGregor has collected an incredible 24 major trophies at Parkhead, including ten league titles.
Yet the five-time Treble winner remains desperate for more success and admits lifting this season’s Premiership trophy would rank among his greatest achievements given how difficult the campaign has been.
He said: “We don’t want to tempt fate. We want to be the team that goes on and lifts it and we’ll do everything we can.
“I think if we do, it’ll be a monumental achievement. To be honest, quite often we’ve done really good to get to the point where we’ve almost been comfortable and that in its own right is also very impressive.
“Especially when it gets to this point in the season where it was probably a three-horse race, maybe now a two-horse race.
“But it takes a different kind of mentality, a different kind of attitude to be chasing and knowing that one bad result can knock you out.
“If we do go and do it, then all the adversity that we’ll face this season, it would definitely rank right up there.”
Nafisa
