Martin O’Neill has delivered the latest on Kasper Schmeichel’s illness ahead of Celtic’s midweek trip to Aberdeen while actually praising the Ibrox atmosphere…
Martin O’Neill applauds the Celtic support. theRangers v Celtic. 1st March 2026. Photograph by Vagelis Georgariou
The experienced Denmark international was notably absent during Celtic’s thrilling 2-2 draw with theRangers at Ibrox yesterday afternoon.
His place in goal was taken once again by Viljami Sinisalo, who retained his spot after keeping a clean sheet in Thursday’s Europa League match in Stuttgart.
Ross Doohan (L) and Viljami Sinisalo of Celtic warm up prior to the Scottish Premiership match between theRangers and Celtic at Ibrox on March 01, 2026. (Photo by WM Sport Media/Getty Images)
With Schmeichel ruled out because of illness, Ross Doohan was named among the substitutes to provide cover between the sticks.
When questioned about whether the veteran goalkeeper could return in time for Wednesday night’s clash with Aberdeen, O’Neill issued an encouraging update. The Celtic manager said: “Should be, should be, yeah. Should be available for selection. Yeah, so we’ll see.”
Danny Rohl and Martin O’Neill look on during the Scottish Premiership match between theRangers and Celtic at Ibrox on March 01, 2026. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
Following the midweek fixture, attention will swiftly turn back to theRangers, with a return to Ibrox scheduled for next week. The two teams are set to face off again at Ibrox in the Scottish Cup, but this time the Hoops are expected to be supported by 7,919 travelling fans rather than the limited 2,000 allocation that were at the game yesterday.
When asked about whether the 2-2 draw will have any bearing on next week, O’Neill responded: “Probably very little, but I’m saying this now, and when I start to think about it, maybe it will have. We’ll have a bigger crowd as well too, which will be great in that aspect.
“But the atmosphere was, today, even though I was getting plenty of abuse myself, no problem, honestly, I would have been disappointed if I hadn’t been getting it. The atmosphere for the Old Firm (sic) game, it really brought me back, honestly, it did. It was electric.
“On Sunday we’ll have a chat about it during the week, but Sunday’s like a million miles away from me, honestly. I’m just trying to come back down, get the heart rate back down again, you know, and maybe eat a bit of that birthday cake.”
Emmanuel Fernandez of Rangers commits a hand ball offence which results in a penalty kick awarded to Celtic during the Scottish Premiership match between theRangers and Celtic at Ibrox on March 01, 2026. (Photo by WM Sport Media/Getty Images)
The sectarian songbook was in full flow yesterday with Sky Sports totally ignoring it. Was it called out on BBC Scotland on their radio commentary? Any of the mainstream media outlets allowed into the Celtic media conferences writing about it today? It may have been electric Martin but it was also hateful, sectarian bile for the most part. Scotland’s shame at their worst.
It seems that the admirable and well intentioned Everyone Anyone campaign has most of its work in front of it. pic.twitter.com/c9GsmE6siI
— Phil Mac Giolla Bháin (@Pmacgiollabhain) March 2, 2026
Conor Spence
Celtic in the Thirties by Matt Corr. Click on image to order
