Graeme Shinnie is expecting Celtic to cause Rangers bother defensively during tomorrow's Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden. And the Aberdeen captain recalls his own challenging experience of facing Ange Postecoglou's men this season as he issued a warning to the Ibrox side.
Inverness Caledonian Thistle beat Falkirk 3-0 in the first last four tie and now all eyes are on the battle between Scotland's giants. Celtic have had the upper hand in the previous two derby matches including lifting the Viaplay Cup back in February, with the pressure on Light Blues boss Michael Beale to stop the Hoops winning another domestic Treble and try spur some positivity into what's been a disappointing campaign for Rangers.
Speaking on BBC 1 Scotland following the match, Shinnie said: "I think in these sort of games for Rangers against a team like Celtic who are very rampant in the league especially, you need to be tight defensively and give them nothing. I think that will be key for Rangers is being defensively solid. They've got players that are dangerous and they can win games. They know that. I think it will be key for them to defensively keep Celtic out."
Shinnie was then asked which of Inverness' prospective opponents has he found it harder to go up since he returned to Aberdeen for a second spell on-loan in January. He responded: "Both are very good. I need to watch what I'm saying here..."
Then when probed further by host Stephen Thompson, he added: "Celtic away at Celtic Park was very difficult I'm not going to lie. Reo Hatate was very good, Callum McGregor too. They've got loads of movement, they are sharp, they know when they get down the sides, if they flash balls across goal then Kyogo's going to be there to tap it in.
"They've got a style of play that is strong, they've got inverted full-backs, it just feels like there's players everywhere and they were strong that day.
"But Rangers will know they've got good players. I watched them at Pittodrie and first half they were good on the ball, created good chances so I think it's going to be tight tomorrow. Obviously I think it's going to be who turns up on the day because both teams have good players with strong ability."
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