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Daily Record
Daily Record
Sport
Robbie Hanratty

Joe Hart expects no Rangers hangover as Celtic keeper talks up approach that goes beyond winning

Joe Hart insists that his side won't have an advantage going into Sunday's Scottish Cup semi final despite Rangers needing extra time to secure a Europa League semi final spot on Thursday night.

Celtic are just a potential five games away from winning their fifth domestic treble within six seasons.

They have the Premier Sports Cup in the bag after beating Hibs at Hampden in December and sit six points ahead of Rangers in the league title race as the season heads towards a thrilling conclusion.

And Hart knows just how much is at stake when they face Giovanni van Bronckhorst' s side at the national stadium, especially since they've had eight days to prepare.

"It’s an important game, every game is huge. There's a lot of implications to all the matches we are taking part in, so Sunday’s no different", said the Celtic number one.

"We are just trying to win each game as we go. That's been the process from the moment we got here at the start of the season. A lot of us getting to the club, obviously the manager coming to the club and that's been the message.

"And I think the manager has made the point, it's not to win the game. Its to stamp our football on the match.

"Our intensity and the kind of energy we want to bring to the football field and we feel that's enough to put us in a good place."

Hart was quick to point out that Celtic felt fine when they were tasked with playing Thursday and Sunday's before being knocked out of Europe after losing 5-1 on aggregate to Bodo/Glimt in February.

He added: “Not really because we’ve done Sunday to Thursday and we felt good going into either of those games.

“They’re professional athletes – they’re built to play twice a week just like we are. I’m sure they’ll be prepared as they need to be.”

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