Celtic’s season moves from steady rhythm to full-volume intensity on Sunday, as the first derby of the campaign takes them across the city to Ibrox for a League Cup quarter-final with a noon kick-off.
At Lennoxtown on Friday morning, there was no hint of it being just another training day. The session carried the sharpness of a squad that knows exactly what is at stake: a place in the last four of the competition and the chance to protect a flawless domestic record.
The drills were brisk, the touches tight, the voices loud. Players moved through shape work and small-sided games with the urgency that only a derby week brings. Every pass looked like rehearsal for the pressurised spaces they will find in Govan. Every sprint, a reminder that the tempo on Sunday will be unforgiving.
This is Celtic’s first meeting of the season with Rangers, and it comes early enough in the campaign to set a tone. The League Cup may not define a year, but a quarter-final at Ibrox has a way of bending momentum. Win, and Celtic keep their 100 per cent domestic run intact while landing the first psychological blow. Lose, and the questions arrive quickly.
The fixture is locked in: Rangers vs. Celtic, Sunday, September 13, 2026, 12:00. A quarter-final in name, but in reality something far heavier. A test of nerve, of discipline, of how this Celtic side handles its first real cauldron of the season.
Lennoxtown has done its part. The rest will be decided in the noise of Ibrox.
