Celtic's Key to Victory: Mentality Over Aesthetics Against Rangers

Mika Baur insists Celtic will not reclaim Old Firm pride this Sunday by trying to out-pretty Rangers.

The midfielder, still stung by last weekend’s 3-0 League Cup humbling at Ibrox, believes the rematch at Celtic Park will be decided by something far more basic – and far more brutal – than style.

“You will not win it with beautiful football and nice play,” he said, laying down a clear challenge to his own dressing room before the Scottish Premiership showdown.

From hostile Ibrox to a one-sided roar

Celtic were overwhelmed in Govan, both on the pitch and in the stands, as a 50,000-strong Ibrox crowd roared Rangers into the last four of the cup and left Martin O’Neill’s side facing fierce criticism.

“You could feel it's a special thing there,” Baur reflected on the Old Firm cauldron. “It was like 50,000 people against you, you should handle that.”

On Sunday, the setting flips. No Rangers fans. A packed Parkhead. Around 60,000 Celtic supporters demanding a response.

“And on Sunday it's completely different,” he said. “We have 60,000 on our side, so we should use that. We need everyone.

“We players will give 100 per cent on the field and we need everybody else to get that energy back and win on Sunday.”

“You win it with mentality”

Baur has repeated the same message inside the camp all week: this derby, coming so quickly after a bruising defeat, cannot be about aesthetics alone.

“I've said a couple of times now, stick together again, get the energy level really, really high on Sunday,” he explained. “You will not win it with beautiful football and nice play.

“Maybe you will score through it, but you will win the game on Sunday with a mentality and with energy and that's what everybody should bring into the match.”

He knows the demands at Celtic. Performances matter. So do patterns, control, and the way the team uses the ball. But in this fixture, in this moment, he is clear about the priority.

“Sure you want to win. That's the first thing and in a couple of months, no one asks how you won,” he said. “You want to play attractive football, if you want to do good with the ball, against the ball.

“Tactics are really important, but as we all saw last Sunday, it was not about that. It was about tackling back, to run back. It was about that and we should bring that on Sunday.”

Baur is not calling for Celtic to abandon their principles. He wants edge added to them.

“You don't want to stop playing good with the ball,” he stressed. “It's more about the energy, it's more about the mentality on Sunday, but it should be a good mix.”

After the bruises of Ibrox and with a full Celtic Park demanding a reaction, that “mix” – of aggression, running and just enough “beautiful football” – will decide whether this derby becomes a turning point or another painful marker in the season.