Glasgow (from our correspondent) – According to Mohad, he is not a rock fan, but his heart is bright green. He just can’t choose his customers. “Of course I drive both Celtic and Rangers fans. But I would prefer to drop the others outside the city,” he smiles.
In a way, he has reason to be satisfied. Celtic leads the Scottish league by eight points, plays in the Champions League and last September’s famous The Old Firm Derby dominated the Rangers ground with a ratio of 1:0. But not everything is so rosy. Celtic lost heavily 0-6 at Atlético Madrid on Tuesday.
Sparta’s footballers, including the recovered Lukáš Haraslín, view the Ibrox StadiumVideo: Sport.cz
“But be careful, Atlético has a very good team. Morata, Griezmann, they are really strong. After all, they recently beat Real Madrid. We played 2-2 with them at home, a great performance from us,” points out Mohad. However, he is aware that for Celtic it is still the only point in the group with Lazio and Feyenoord, and participation in the spring cups is getting further away from the Scots. At the same time, he says he does not remember the fall of 2020, when Sparta played against Celtic in the Europa League and beat them twice 4:1.
“Well, I hope that Rangers will also get 0-6,” reports the approximately thirty-year-old taxi driver. But Rangers fans definitely disagree. “I have a feeling we’ll win by a goal, maybe 3-2,” predicts salesman Joseph. “Sparta have quality, they showed it two weeks ago. But we are much stronger at home,” warns Letenské.
The Rangers have been doing really well lately. Under coach Philippe Clement, they are on the rise, winning all three meetings since the match at Sparta, each time attacking thirty shots in the game.
“Sparta will win 2:1 anyway. The goals will be scored by Kuchta and Birmančevič,” says fan Michal, who traveled to Glasgow with his friends to support his favorite club.
Just by passing through the city, you can see that Glasgow lives on football. Many fanshops, stickers everywhere. And three gigantic stadiums by Czech standards. Ibrox Stadium, home of Rangers, can hold over 50,000 fans. A little more Hampden Park, where the national team plays its matches. And even over 60,000 people can fit into Celtic Park.
All this in a city whose population is approximately half that of Prague. “Football means everything here. I am proud that we have teams that play in European competitions. Although it is clear that you can only support one,” Joseph reminds us that the rivalry between the Catholic club Celtic and the Protestant Rangers is huge.
