Gordon Smith: Marvin Compper’s composure will be crucial for Celtic in Rangers clash

THE news of the new deal for Alfredo Morelos is a timely boost for Rangers – provided the Colombian now does his part.

All too often we have seen the form of players who have been rewarded with lucrative contracts suddenly dip.

It’s as if, whether consciously or not, they feel their work is done and allow themselves to ease off.

The best players don’t do that, and it is up to Morelos to prove he is more interested in achieving his goals on the pitch than the financial incentives available to him.

Where better to start than today’s Old Firm showdown? It’s the most-eagerly anticipated for six years.

Both managers, Graeme Murty and Brendan Rodgers, have seemed happy to add to the hype, and the Rangers boss’s revelation that his players cheered the news of drawing Celtic in the Scottish Cup semi-finals surprised me.

From personal experience, I can guarantee you that is the sort of thing Brendan Rodgers will use to motivate his side.

So it had to be a calculated risk from Murty, a way of geeing up players, fans and coaches ahead of a match of huge significance.

Rodgers’ response – that the pressure is all on Rangers – was more conventional and, as such, more to be expected.

An analysis of the likely effect of the three possible results would suggest there is logic to both positions.

Even before one of his predecessors, Walter Smith, stated it, Murty will have been well aware this is a game Rangers have to win.

Do so, and people’s perceptions about the inevitability of Celtic making it seven-in-a-row will alter.

All of a sudden we would have a title chase on our hands.

It would bolster huge confidence in the Rangers players themselves for the league campaign to come and, crucially, for the Scottish Cup semi-final against Rodgers’ men next month.

From Murty’s own personal perspective, it would be huge too.

Proving he is able to send out a team capable of holding Celtic to a draw the last time they met helped land him the manager’s job until the end of the season.

If he can prove he is able to send out a team to beat Celtic would surely all but seal the post on a permanent basis.

The key word is “beat”, because this time I believe a draw would favour the visitors.

A defeat today would point up the vulnerability exposed by the domestic defeats by Hearts and Kilmarnock as being an ongoing issue.

Repelling Rangers’ challenge would show it is business as usual.

It would ease the pain after the Europa League exit to Zenit St Petersburg and, arguably, give Celtic the psychological edge going into the Cup semi-final.

That would definitely be the case in the event of the third possible outcome – a Celtic victory.

If that happens, the Double Treble would be very much on.

You can’t underestimate how big an achievement that would be. It is something no Scottish team has ever done before.

Jock Stein won two Trebles but they were a year apart. Martin O’Neill only won one.

Rangers came within 90 minutes of it in 1994 but came unstuck against Dundee United in the Scottish Cup Final.

A defeat for the Light Blues today would make it very hard for Murty to lift his side enough to reverse the form in the Cup tie.

They would go into the Hampden match feeling it was their last chance to win silverware, and their last chance to stop their rivals pulling off another clean sweep.

And desperate is not what you want to be going into this fixture.

From my own experience, I know these games are different because, as much you have to be ready to compete and win your own individual battles, you also need to retain the composure to deliver your skills when the moment comes because that is what will win the match.

That’s why previous experience in the derby is so important.

We know Moussa Dembele can keep his nerve against Rangers because we have seen him do so on multiple occasions.

We don’t know whether the new faces on either side can do so.

How Marvin Compper, Celtic’s £1m winter window signing from Leipzig, handles it could be crucial because I believe Celtic’s defence will be the key to this match.

Shut down the combined threat of Jamie Murphy, Alfredo Morelos and Jason Cummings, and Rodgers should finish as the happier of the two managers.

I am not sure Celtic in their current form are going to be able to do that. So if Rangers play to their capabilities, they have a real chance.