'I felt same pressure in Old Firm as Champions League final – it's the mother of all games'

Scottish football icon Paul Lambert has put the Old Firm derby on par with the Champions League final.

Premiership champions Celtic are favourites to beat Rangers and claim another piece of silverware when they meet at Hampden Park in Saturday's Scottish Cup decider. Lambert, 54, lifted the cup three times during his playing career - twice with Celtic and once at St. Mirren - though neither of his triumphs in green and white ended in an Old Firm fanfare.

Glasgow's top pair will meet in a Scottish Cup final for the first time since 2002, when Lambert came out on the losing side of the clash. Having won the Champions League with Borussia Dortmund in 1997, Lambert joined Celtic and helped turn the tide in Scotland's most famous fixture, not that there's much to divide the two major occasions.

"The Old Firm is unique," explained Lambert during an appearance on Undr the Cosh. "I heard [former Celtic manager] Ange Postecoglou say this in an interview the other day - it's probably one of the derbies of all derbies, because of what it is and what it stands for.

"You have to be so tough in it, with your brain. You have to be prepared to take the criticism that comes your way [and] take the praise when it comes. It's the mother of all derbies, just because of what it stands for. Going back a few years, I would see tackles going in at full height and it be legal. That's the Old Firm for you. This is what it is."

Lambert went on to describe the fixture as a "brilliant game" but noted it's not so brilliant when you lose. And the praise for the occasion continued when he was asked how the pressure of his first Old Firm fixture compared with a Champions League final.

"[It's the] same," he responded. "Because of what the history of the