Will the chance for Celtic to set a REAL World record be the motivation today to turn on the style against the Ibrox side?

Records don’t mean much to Ange Postecoglu.

On a fair few occasions this season, he has been asked what he thought about breaking records.

Points totals, goals scored, consecutive wins and on, and on.

It seemed to be something of an irrelevance to him.

Sort of, it is what is, if we break them, we break them, if we don’t, then we don’t.

Record breaking doesn’t really seem to be his focus.

Winning the next football match is his primary focus, no matter who the opponent is.

For that, we should be extremely grateful, because ultimately, that is all that matters.

It is all that matters this afternoon at Mount Florida come 13:30 pm.

But you have to wonder, is winning this particular treble important to Ange Postecoglu?

Look, I get doing the clean sweep is very important, I know Ange feels he left it behind him last year.

It would have been the ultimate announcement of his credentials as a manager to land the treble in his first season at Celtic.

Especially in the process of a full squad rebuild.

I have no doubt it still rankles with him, the fashion in which we lost that game.

How Bobby Madden’s parting gift to his favourite side, was to allow them to run riot in midfield with complete impunity.

Ange strikes me as a man who stores away any failures he experiences for another day.

Today is that day.

He strikes me as a man who does not allow a second chance to slip away.

Today that second chance awaits.

With it, comes the chance to set a REAL World record.

A victory this afternoon, gives Celtic the chance to become the only club in footballing history to win 8 trebles in their existence.

Will that be a motivating factor for Ange Postecoglu?

Maybe, but it won’t be the defining factor.

We are playing the Ibrox side, first and foremost, that is motivation enough.

Secondly, we have the chance to exorcise the demons of last year’s semi-final and prove that we are more than a match for them now in knockout competition.

We are stronger than we were last year.

We have much more depth to our squad than we did last year.

They are fundamentally weaker.

Both psychologically and managerially.

In reality, and I say this with complete sincerity, Giovanni van Bronckhorst was a better manager than Michael Beale.

The likeable Dutchman was treated shambolically by the Ibrox club and Michael Beale sneakily helped to oust him from his position as manager.

Beale is a charlatan and a spoofer.

At least van Bronckhorst was a decent guy, and he was honest.

There is nothing whatsoever to like about Michael Beale.

He is starting to get found out, and it’s my firm belief that he will continue to be found out today.

And if he does lose, whether it’s spectacularly or by the narrowest of margins, the peepul will be calling for his head.

This rebuild that he talks so much about?

Unless it’s instantaneously successful, he won’t make it past next Christmas.

If he does win today, it will buy him some time.

But that will only happen if Celtic don’t show up this afternoon.

Team selection will be key for Ange Postecolgu.

While it was good news that Hatate, Abada and Jota are all available for today, their fitness levels and match sharpness may be a concern.

We all remember how Hatate tired towards the end of last season, and how Aribo and Lundstram in particular, were allowed to bully him in midfield in last year’s semi-final.

The question is, will Ange use him as an impact sub, or will he put him in from the start?

It’s hard to know.

My belief is that the team will line up as follows:

Hart, Taylor, Carter-Vickers, Starfelt, Johnson, McGregor, O’Riley, Iwata, Maeda, Kyogo, Jota

Ange will then use Hatate later in the game and also possibly Abada, who has a knack for scoring against the Ibrox side.

Jota will start because he has spent the least amount of time out injured.

The Ibrox side will once again attempt to score goals through set pieces.

So expect them to hit the deck at every opportunity when a Celtic player gets near them.

With Collum in charge, you can be sure he’ll be more than happy to hand out free kicks like confetti shares at Ibrox.

I am confident we will do the business today, it’s more the external factors that concern me.

The Ibrox side will go in hard from the off.

They’ll push the boundaries to see what they can get away with.

They’ll look at last year’s semi and attempt to bully us like they did then, depending on how Collum reacts.

Tactically, Ange has Beale’s number, we saw that in the last contest between us and them.

He changed and adapted his tactics three times.

This baffles Beale, who seems to be tactically inept.

Watching his side playing at Pittodrie last Sunday, they looked rudderless.

It seemed as if tactically, they hadn’t a clue what they were supposed to be doing.

If you watch the last 20 minutes of that match, you’ll see exactly what I mean.

Ange will have watched it too.

He will see this as his opening today.

He studies every opponent in depth and what he saw at Pittodrie last week will give him great confidence for this afternoon.

If Collum doesn’t continually destroy momentum and allows the game to actually flow, I think we will just have too much for them.

So many factors to take into account.

The chance to enter the record books.

The chance for Ange to gain legendary status as a treble winning Celtic manager.

But first and foremost, the chance to win another Glasgow Derby.

Do that first and then think about the records afterwards.

That is all Ange Postecoglu is thinking about right now.

The rest is just white noise until business is taken care of.

Enjoy today bhoys and ghirls.

I’ll see you on the other side.