Ange Postecoglou tells Celtic players to embrace hype of Rangers showdown

Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou will tell his players to embrace the hype ahead of their Scottish Cup semi-final with Rangers so they are ready to seize their opportunity.

The Hoops can move a major step closer to a fifth treble in six seasons when they face their city rivals at Hampden on Sunday.

Postecoglou urged his players to create history earlier in the week and he explained that he sees no good in underplaying the occasion ahead of such a big game.

The former Australia head coach said: “My experience with these things, there is no point trying to disguise it as something it isn’t.

“You can go in there and say that it’s just another game and treat it just like another game but I think you lose the unique aspect of the fact that you want your players to embrace the big occasion and play in a big game. You don’t want your players to shy away from it.

“I don’t think I need to tell them that, they will realise themselves from the build-up and obviously when they walk out there.

“But my role in that is just to make sure that the focus is on the important things, the things that have got us to this point, and also highlight the fact that the key to these big games is to be ready to take the opportunity.

“You don’t want to let too many of those opportunities go by in your career.

“I’m not one for telling the guys to ignore the hype or ignore the attention.

“Particularly at this football club, it’s really important that the guys embrace that and want that.

“They want to be in the big games and, the bigger the games, the bigger the opportunity to make a statement.”

Postecoglou has a number of players at his disposal who made key contributions on the big occasions during Celtic’s quadruple treble campaigns, such as Tom