Charlie Mulgrew admits he is loving the mind games in the build-up to Saturday's game between Celtic and Rangers.
But he's told the Celtic squad they need to focus on getting the job done and not get caught up in any of the noise surrounding the clash.
Rangers manager Philippe Clement bit back at Brendan Rodgers over the weekend after the Celtic boss had said they would 'have fun' during Saturday's match.
Clement felt it was disrespectful from Rodgers and hit back on Sunday following his side's 4-1 win over Kilmarnock.
It's something Mulgrew has enjoyed but he doesn't think it will take anything away from Clement's focus on preparing his team as best as he possibly can for the weekend.
When asked about the comments by both managers, he replied to Sky Sports: “I love it. It adds to the occasion, the fans love it. Both sets of fans are relishing it. Rangers fans I can imagine are delighted with the response from Clement, it’s brilliant from Brendan Rodgers putting it out there.
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“I think it all adds to it, it’s a bit of fun and it’s what this occasion brings. It gets everyone up for it. The fans are up for it and there’s a lot of anxiety among the players I’d imagine but you’ve got to have fun. You’ve got to go out and enjoy it, it’s what we great up doing as football players. You want to go out and play football and enjoy it. If you’re out there enjoying it and working hard, you know you’ll work harder, you’ll press higher and keep the ball but he’s bang on about wanting to have fun but obviously Rangers will want to have fun as well so it’ll be a great game.
“I think he just wanted to have that pop back to show he’s backing his players. I’m sure he’ll be right back to business and focus on the game. I think he’s an experienced managed and I don’t think he’ll want to step away from the fact he wants to prepare his team for the game.
“The second half at Ibrox is something they’ll take encouragement from but Celtic have to from the first half so it’s going to be a great game and a great occasion.”
Mulgrew reckons it's Rangers who are under the most pressure for Saturday though because they are three points behind Celtic in the league table.
He expects them to start the game quickly and play like they did in the second half at Ibrox last month, and it's up to Celtic to find a way to combat that.
He added: “That’s for the fans and the pundits to speak about Celtic being favourites and all the pressure is on Rangers to come here and get a victory. In house the coaching staff and players will be saying it’s a huge game, need to approach it and try and win the game as usual and stick to the game plan and do what Celtic do at home. They pen teams back in their own half, they win the ball quickly.
“Against Rangers it’s a bit more difficult. You’d think Rangers will have a bit more possession because the pressure is on them to win the game. Celtic have got to have the ball as much as they can and when they don’t they need to have a plan and the manager will do that.
“The last game at Ibrox Celtic dominated and could have been 3-0 up at half time, the second half Rangers had their chances and came back and made it 3-3. I’d imagine Rangers will approach the game like they did in the second half by pushing higher up the pitch and trying to pen Celtic in their own half and Celtic will be expecting that and have a plan to play through it and get forward and be more of a threat than they were in the second half at Ibrox."
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