Martin O'Neill sees Celtic prophecy come true as reaction to Rangers collapse proves him absolutely right

Hugh Keevins reckons the former Hoops boss has been proved correct

Martin O’Neill said it would happen earlier in the season and the former Celtic manager has been proved correct.

His observation on Rangers’ shortcomings, and they have become even more plentiful since he delivered his warning, was that they were ultimately unhelpful to Celtic. If O’Neill meant there might be a subconscious drop in performance levels at Celtic Park because the team across the road on the other side of the city were making their inferiority known on a regular basis then evidence has been forthcoming to support that.

The midweek win over Dundee on the night Rangers were descending to a new low against Aberdeen was a tortuous business. Six changes to the side resulted in a disjointed display and cast doubt over the reliability of players such as Yang Hyun-jun and Luis Palma.

The bench ultimately had to be raided to find match-winners, as had been the case when Celtic were losing to Falkirk in the quarter finals of the Premier Sports Cup.

Brendan Rodgers says the rotation process was necessary to maintain the energy of the group as a whole. The test of that theory will be Celtic’s level of intensity and physicality when they face RB Leipzig on Tuesday night in the Champions League.

It’s one win, one spanking and one draw so far for Celtic in Europe. One driven display and they have a down payment on the second phase of the tournament. The last time Celtic triumphed at home in the Champions League, against Feyenoord, Gustaf Lagerbielke got the winner. Proof positive that anything can happen.