'Rangers have Cyriel Dessers. Celtic have serial winners'
The last time Celtic and Rangers met in the Scottish Cup final Brendan Rodgers was the academy director at Reading and Philippe Clement was on the treatment table at Club Bruges, a dodgy hamstring costing him a place in Belgium’s squad for that summer's World Cup.
For a rivalry that so often feels like it is playing out on a loop, it has been 22 years since the 'Glasgow Two' have met at Hampden Park in the showpiece final of the domestic season.
The dominance of the Old Firm - or Celtic’s dominance over Rangers, to be precise - is a stick that fans of other leagues can beat Scottish football with, but they are on weaker ground this time.
Manchester City and Manchester United met in last season’s FA Cup final and will meet again on Saturday at Wembley.
In the 22 years since the last Old Firm Scottish Cup final, there have been two Barcelona versus Real Madrid Copa del Rey finals, four Bayern Munich versus Borussia Dortmund German Cup finals and five Inter Milan versus Roma Coppa Italias.
On Saturday at Hampden it will be the same, but different. On Celtic’s side there is a want and on Rangers side, given the way they imploded in the league title race, there is a need.
Celtic, with a clean bill of health and the feel-good factor of champions, are warm favourites. They have a settled side, confidence, certainty and a manager who knows more about exploiting the team from across the city than any other Celtic manager before him.
You get the strong impression that, psychologically, their supporters have already banked the trophy.
Rangers are desperately trying to navigate their way through a fairly chronic injury profile. They have issues at centre-half, left-back, the middle of the park and out wide.
Clement says he might have to throw in players he might not otherwise have risked playing. It's the last game of the season, so he may as well roll the dice.
Celtic have won three of the four derbies this season and drew the other. Clement has never really come up with a plan to win the battle in the centre of midfield, where Callum McGregor, the orchestrator, Reo Hatate, his second in command, and Matt O’Riley, a brilliant creative force, have tended to roam free.
Rangers have not led in the fixture this season. They have gone two goals down in the last three and have had a man sent off in two of the last three. In the first derby of the season, in September, they had an XG [expected goals rating] of 1.8 to Celtic’s 0.95 - and lost.
In the second meeting, in December, they had an XG of 0.97 to Celtic’s 0.64 and lost again. Celtic’s nous and big-game players proved too much for them.
Then came the 3-3 thriller at Ibrox, which the visitors should have won having led 2-0 and 3-2, and after that, the 2-1 win at Celtic Park, which should have been a whole lot more comfortable for Rodgers’ team than it turned out. They had 22 shots to Rangers’ seven and six on target to Rangers’ one.
Clement and his players have to find hope from somewhere and if they mine those four games for encouragement they can convince themselves they have found some.
Three defeats, yes. But all by a single goal. In the build-up to the final, Rangers coaches and players have been playing a game of 'what ifs'.
What if they had not had a goal disallowed in the opening game against Celtic when it was still 0-0?
What if they had not fallen two goals behind in the three that followed? What if they had taken their chances and kept their discipline?
Celtic routed them earlier in the month but there was still only a goal in it at the end. That has been the mantra of the week. They have lost, but not by much. Bring their A game and there is a chance.
Conundrums everywhere for Clement
If Clement was picking from a full deck it would be an easier argument to make, but he is not. He has had to start seven different defenders in the last three games and seven goals have been conceded.
He played a midfielder, Dujon Sterling, as an emergency centre-half midway through the last meeting with Celtic. Now he is sweating on the fitness of another of his centre-backs, Leon Balogun.
Clement may have to gamble that left-back Ridvan Yilmaz and one of his main attackers, Abdallah Sima, will be fit to start. John Lundstram, the midfielder who got himself sent-off in the last game against Celtic, is available again.
Lundstram, who will most likely leave in the summer, has been the subject of huge debate among Rangers fans.
Some are prepared to forgive him his petulance at Celtic Park and want him in the middle of the park in the hope his experience and aggression can help stifle Celtic’s impressive trio.
Most, it would seem, do not want him anywhere near the team though. The next question is, however, who would play instead of him - and there are not a lot of appealing answers to that.
At his best, Ryan Jack would be a shoo-in for the battle to win the midfield. He was an unused substitute against Heart of Midlothian last week, but has not played in four months. Nicolas Raskin is available, but the Belgian has rarely impressed.
There are conundrums everywhere for Clement and that is even before he considers how to stop Daizen Maeda inflicting more woe on his captain, James Tavernier, another Rangers stalwart who might be heading for the exit door.
Confusion reigns at Ibrox while Rodgers continues to rule. Rangers have spoken about the need to be brave at Hampden but it would take guts to back against Rodgers, the leviathan of Lennoxtown, and his players.
Another trophy heading to the east end of Glasgow? Rangers have Cyriel Dessers. Celtic have serial winners.
