Kieran Tierney has backed Moussa Dembele to continue his dominant run over Rangers, should the French striker start against the Ibrox side on Sunday.

Dembele has netted 7 goals against Rangers in his time at Celtic and was hugely impressive at Hampden less than a fortnight ago as Brendan Rodgers’ were ruthless against Graeme Murty’s men.

The 21-year-old sat out of the defeat to Hibs at Easter Road last Saturday but is expected to be fit for the weekend visit of Rangers.

Read more: Kieran Tierney urged full focus as Celtic look to close out title against Rangers​

“He is back running and kicking a ball, so it’s up to how he feels and how the physio department feel,” said Tierney.

“Hopefully he will be fit. He is brilliant, Moussa.

“I remember one game where I fired a ball up to him and he took it on the chest and made a terrible ball from me look so simple. It actually finished up making me look good.

“Having somebody like that in your team is brilliant.”

Tierney’s own particular memory of the fixture pivots around Shunsuke Nakamura’s 40-yard effort in 2008 when his goal defeated Rangers 2-1, a strike that resonated with the then ten-year-old.

Read more: Celtic new kid Lewis Morgan out to make immediate impression after finishing on high with St Mirren

“It’s a blur because I was so young,” said the full-back. “But I have great memories of Nakamura scoring that brilliant goal from 40 yards and things like that.

“That’s one of my biggest memories.

“I’m not sure if that was my first game - but it won’t be far away. The memory is really clear whereas others I was only ten-years-old.

“That Nakamura effort was the kind of goal you try to score up the park when you’re small, but you don’t succeed. You could try that a thousand times - but a goal like that will never be repeated. It was such a big game as well.”