ANGE POSTECOGLOU’s experience of Old Firm fixtures used to be quintessentially Australian, and a great deal more chilled out than his first taste of the game in the flesh will be tomorrow at Ibrox.

There will be no shrimps on the barbie or cold beers in hand for Postecoglou in Govan, but there is no place the Celtic manager would rather be.

Postecoglou, who turned 56 yesterday, has waited a long time to take one of his teams into a fixture of such global significance, and he is keen to make it a special occasion not only for himself, but for Celtic fans all over the world.

“I wasn’t a pubs kind of guy,” Postecoglou said. “I preferred watching with the comforts of home with a few mates and a couple of beers.

“That was our experience. I have a group of friends and whenever there was a big fixture, we’d get around to someone’s house, have a barbie and watch the football.

“It’ll be magic. I can’t wait. It’s not stuff that you dream about because when you are living in Melbourne and you are a million miles away, how can you dream you’ll be part of a fixture like this one? It seems too far-fetched to come from seeing it in a young boy’s mind.

“To be involved, it’ll be special. Hopefully, we will give a good account of ourselves and make it a memorable day.

“We knew this was a big week for us and getting through Thursday night was our first priority. Now it’s Sunday.

“It’s a massive game and a fixture that has global significance. I can tell you Down Under in Australia, it’s one of the fixtures everyone looks out for every year from around the world.

“The Glasgow Derby is right up there and it’s never lost on me how big a game it is. To be part of it is something special.”

For all the hubbub this week about the Covid-related disruption in the Rangers camp, Postecoglou says that Celtic will be travelling to the home of their great rivals expecting to face a near full-strength opponent.

“You can’t think of it,” he said. “Otherwise you fall into a trap of thinking that maybe they are going in with some sort of disruption.

“What you do know is irrespective of the line-up we and they put out, players will give their all and it’ll be a tough contest.

“You can’t fall into a trap of thinking they are somehow going to be lessened from what you expect because of issues they may have.

“It’s a false trap and Covid is an issue for all of us. Every week, clubs try to be diligent, but it’s affecting all of society.

“It’s going to be a tough game for sure. They had a great deal of success last year, they are really strong and have had a great deal of success in these games in recent times.

“It’s a great challenge and test of our football. That’s what you want. To be involved in the big games to create some special memories and that’s the opportunity we have.”

Postecoglou was pleased to add Liam Scales to his squad from Shamrock Rovers yesterday, with the left-sided defender in contention to be involved in some capacity at Ibrox.

“We’d been working on that for a while, but Shamrock Rovers had been involved in European competition and were keen to hold him as they were doing well, which was okay by us,” he said.

“It’s finally great to get him in. He’s a good young talent who can play a couple of positions and adds quality and depth to our squad, which we need.

“He’ll have a session hopefully on Saturday and then we’ll make a decision. The international break is coming which will be good to let him settle in a bit, but we’ll assess it.”