WHEN Celtic and Rangers last met on March 16, the dugouts were filled by Martin O’Neill and Alex McLeish.
Tomorrow at Celtic Park, Brendan Rodgers will square up to Barry Ferguson for the first time.
The duo of Alex McLeish and Barry Ferguson – February 2002 Manager and Player of the Month[/caption]
Ferguson and McLeish celebrate beating Celtic in the 2002 Scottish Cup final[/caption]
Captain Ferguson lifts the League Cup, 22 years to the day of this weekend’s clash[/caption]
And former Treble-winning Gers manager McLeish isn’t surprised his ex-captain is now leading the Light Blues into a derby clash.
He told SunSport: “I always thought Fergie had something about him.
“He knew his own position and what he could do in that position and he had fantastic knowledge of the game as well.
“I thought his tactics were really good in the first leg against Fenerbahce in Turkiye last week.
“He played that way because, at the moment, Rangers don’t have enough creative players to break down defences.
“He’s not as fortunate as I was in that Treble season in 2003.”
Ferguson lifted the League Cup 22 years ago tomorrow, the first leg of a clean sweep of domestic honours.
Claudio Caniggia and Peter Lovenkrands struck first-half goals.
Henrik Larsson pulled one back before Neil Lennon was handed a late red card for a challenge on Gers sub Shota Arveladze.
There was still time for stoppage-time drama when ref Kenny Clark pointed to the spot after a trip on Bobo Balde in the box.
But John Hartson — who wrongly had a goal chalked off for offside at 2-1 — steered his spot-kick past Stefan Klos’ right-hand post and Gers grabbed the trophy.
McLeish said: “We had come in during the previous season when Celtic already had an unassailable lead in the league.
“We still managed to win two cups and that set us up for the following campaign. To win the Treble was a fantastic achievement and, of course, winning the League Cup that day set everything in motion for us.
“Claudio’s goal was brilliant. His speed was great to get to the loose ball in the box. It was a good finish.
“We were biting our fingernails by the end and got a bit of good fortune with big John’s penalty.
“It was a great start to the Treble season. That first trophy is always significant.”
O’Neill took Celts all the way to the Uefa Cup final, where they lost to Jose Mourinho’s Porto in Seville at the end of that season.
But Gers won the title on a dramatic final day and added the Scottish Cup with a 1-0 final win over Dundee.
March 16, 2003 – CIS Insurance Cup Final
The Rangers and Celtic teams 22 years ago
CELTIC: Douglas, Mjallby (Petrov), Balde, Valgaeren, Smith (Sylla), Lennon, Lambert, Thompson, Sutton (Maloney), Hartson, Larsson.
RANGERS: Klos, Ricksen, Moore, Amoruso, Bonnisel (Ross), De Boer (Arveladze), Ferguson, Arteta (Konterman), Caniggia, Mols, Lovenkrands.,
The key moment of the last-day title shootout was delivered by Mikel Arteta when he netted a penalty against Dunfermline.
McLeish recalls the impact of the young Spaniard, now chasing Champions League glory with Arsenal ahead of a mouth-watering quarter- final against Real Madrid.
He added: “Mikel was still 20 when we won that League Cup final.
“Having some fantastic experienced guys beside him with great quality brought the best out of him. We protected him as well as we could. We gave him a lot of responsibility for a young man of barely 20.
“When we first saw him, he was playing No 6 for PSG on loan from Barcelona.
“Andy Watson said he had quick feet and he was nimble but nobody ever put him under pressure.
“We took him because we knew if he became a superstar and we hadn’t taken him we’d have ended up with egg on our faces.
“My main dilemma is that I couldn’t play him in the No 6 role because we had one of the best in Europe at that particular moment in Fergie!”
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