Martin O’Neill has been looking ahead to his first Glasgow derby in 20 years.

Celtic play Rangers in the Premier Sports Cup semi-final this weekend, with both sides one game away from competing for the first domestic trophy of the season.

There will be new faces in the dugout at both ends as O’Neill returned on an interim basis to replace Brendan Rodgers while Danny Rohl has taken over from Russell Martin.

For the 73-year-old, playing Rangers is familiar territory, and it is fair to say that the Northern Irishman can’t wait to go up against his long-time rivals.

O’Neill excited to face Rangers

Only Rodgers has a better record than O’Neill against Rangers, and even with all of the change in the past few days, the Hoops will be the favourites.

Stepping out at Hampden Park in a Glasgow derby is a tantalising prospect, and one that O’Neill is relishing.

He began with a light joke, saying: “If I had seen the fixture list I probably would’ve stayed at home.

“It’s always a great one and I’m genuinely looking forward to it now – or I think I am anyway.

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“What do I remember? Lots of nervousness from about 72 hours before and if you got the result, a great relief.

“They were fantastic fixtures when the stadiums had the full allocation of away support.

“I always felt going to Ibrox that our crowd would help us, as I’m sure Alex McLeish would’ve probably said about the Rangers crowd.”

O’Neill then admitted that he would be quite happy with a boring victory if it meant his side were in the final by full time.

“Replicating that [6-2] will be extremely difficult. I would settle for a really lousy 1-0 victory.

“That 6-2 win really gave us a springboard as in November Rangers took us apart at Ibrox.

“It is a phenomenal fixture, even now.”