O'Neill stays cool despite Souness mind games

Uefa Cup: Former Rangers manager returns to Glasgow with combative attitude as Parkhead counterpart keeps calm

As someone who once planted a Galatasaray flag in the pitch simply to antagonise Fenerbahce supporters after a Turkish Cup final, Graeme Souness knows a thing or two about turf wars. Tonight he returns to the city that puts even Istanbul in the shade when it comes to volatile rivalry.

The Scot would never have attempted his flag stunt during his time in Glasgow, nor would the police have tolerated it. Yet, though the Blackburn Rovers manager claims to have mellowed since his fiery five-year residence at Ibrox, it seems you can take the man out of Rangers, but not Rangers out of the man.

Such is the antipathy towards him across the city that, even though it is 11 years since Souness left, it will not dilute the hostile reception he receives from almost 58,000 voices inside Parkhead. Celtic may be playing Blackburn on the European stage, but the Uefa Cup seems less of an issue. Battle of Britain? Try the war of nerves.

Souness has taken the unheard of step of enlisting the help of Rangers to plot the downfall of their fellow Scots. The Ibrox club will lend Blackburn their training facilities to practise set-pieces this morning before the second round, first leg match in the evening.

Souness claimed it was "no big deal" and that, if Rovers had drawn Rangers, then he would have put a similar request to Celtic. "But this is Glasgow we are talking about, and I've worked there, so I should not be surprised."

However, given that Blackburn's players will have to put up with a 50-mile round trip to reach Rangers' training complex from their hotel, Souness's explanation may do little to dilute Old Firm paranoia.

Martin O'Neill shrewdly refused to be drawn into Souness's mind games. "It's a free country. Graeme can do what he wants," the Celtic manager said with a smile. Even when he heard that the former Rangers manager had doubted Henrik Larsson's entitlement to a world-class rating after the Celtic striker's performances for Sweden in Japan during the summer, O'Neill refused to bite.

"That's up to Graeme, but maybe he has not seen him as much as I have," said the Northern Irishman, before extolling the pedigree of Blackburn's Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole, and proclaiming Damien Duff to be "a potentially world-class player."

Duff, in contrast to his manager, is a fan of Larsson, who finds imitation the best form of flattery. "He's Celtic mad," said his team-mate Egil Ostenstad, when the Republic of Ireland winger revealed he owned a green-and white shirt with Larsson's name and number.

Despite the Battle of Britain tag, O'Neill will opt for sang-froid tonight rather than the Souey-baiting his side's fans will indulge in. "To me, it's a Uefa Cup tie. I don't see it as a British game, especially the cultured way that Blackburn play."

He cited his own experience with Nottingham Forest against Liverpool in the European Cup tie in 1978-79 as evidence. "The Liverpool players admitted later that they treated it like an English league game and when they went 1-0 at the City Ground, they went chasing an equaliser – only to lose a second goal in the dying minutes."

O'Neill believes his team generate more admiration than antipathy south of the border. "I don't think people in England look down their noses at Scottish football," he said. "It's just that they feel their own league is pretty strong and prefer to compare it to Italy or Spain, than Scotland.

"I agree with what Graeme said at the weekend about Celtic and Rangers doing well if we joined the Premiership, but that is hypothetical. Celtic and Rangers have always been big clubs, but access to the kind of money the Premiership has would allow them to attract the very best players."

Some might argue that O'Neill already has them. Apart from Larsson and Chris Sutton, who could damage his old club, Stilian Petrov is currently showing why Bulgaria have made him captain at the age of 22. The midfielder will play for Celtic with a cast protecting a broken hand.

European nights can be special at Parkhead, as Alan Thompson discovered when he netted the winner against Rosenborg in the Champions' League a year ago. "People in England know about Celtic," said the former Bolton man, "but I doubt if many Blackburn players will have played in the kind of atmosphere Parkhead has."

CELTIC (probable, 3-5-2): Douglas; Valgaeren, Baldé, Laursen; Agathe, Lambert, Lennon, Petrov, Thompson; Larsson, Sutton.