Rangers v Celtic: Why Brendan Rodgers’ 16th derby holds more peril than any other

Kyogo Furuhashi doesn’t need to don the cloak and scythe of the grim reaper when he fetches up at Ibrox on Sunday. The bare numbers of his story versus Rangers reveal how much of a bogey man he’s been to the Ibrox club.

In September at Ibrox, he had just nine touches of the ball in 76 minutes, one of them being the match-winner.

Last April, in a 3-2 win, he had two shots on target and two goals from only 17 touches.

A few months earlier, just when it looked like Rangers were going to win 2-1 at Ibrox, Kyogo poked in the equaliser with two minutes left. It was his only attempt on target. He had 15 touches and was largely anonymous, until he wasn’t.

This time last year he was on 26 goals. Now he’s on 16.

He’s had those Old Firm highs, but it’s not been a vintage season for Kyogo. He’s missed the service of Jota on one side and Liel Abada on the other, the holy trinity of the Ange Postecoglou years.

He’s playing deeper under Rodgers and has suffered from the musical chairs on either side of him, the constant changing of the wide players and the lack of fluency it has brought at times. Some of that has been down to injury.

He’ll still occupy the every waking thought of the Rangers defence in the build-up to Sunday.

They all know about his stealth, they’ve all been burned by his capacity to appear under the thumb for large parts of a game before, metaphorically, breaking free and thumping them in the face. In Kyogo, Celtic will continue to trust.

If Kyogo has inflicted pain on Rangers, then Brendan Rodgers has really been torturer-in-chief.

Fifteen games with 12 victories and only one defeat. A 4-0, a 5-0 and a 5-1. A total of 34 goals scored and only eight conceded. 1,350 minutes played and behind for only 108 of those. Eight clean sheets to Rangers’ two.

Even when his team have looked shaky, they’ve still done the job.

Going into the first meeting of the season, Celtic had drawn with St Johnstone and had lost to Kilmarnock in their previous two games. Rangers smelt blood at Ibrox that day. Celtic won 1-0.

Earlier in December, they lost to Kilmarnock and Hearts before facing Rangers. Philippe Clement’s side had gone unbeaten in 16 matches, winning 13, one of which was away to Real Betis in the Europa League. A Betis team who five days before had drawn 1-1 with the Real Madrid of Jude Bellingham, Luka Modric, Toni Kroos and Federico Valverde.

Celtic won again, 2-1 this time.

‘It wasn’t supposed to be like this for prodigal son’

Rodgers’ dominance has entered the history books. With an 80% win rate, he has the highest win return of any Old Firm manager in major competitions.

Doubt from the outside world accompanied all the way to kick-off in both of his games against Rangers this season but Rodgers – and Kyogo – came up with the solutions. But there’s doubt again now.

This season has not been the Celtic procession that some might have thought it was going to be. Rangers have got their act together while Celtic have bobbed along on choppy waters.

A poor summer transfer window followed by a poor January transfer window. The sound of booing at Celtic Park. The sound of Rodgers having a go at those booing. The endless grief with the Green Brigade. The “good girl” saga that saw Rodgers slammed by a women’s campaigning group. The Scottish FA charge – and subsequent touchline ban – for accusing officials of incompetence.

It’s been a grind. Five draws and three defeats. Ninetieth-minute wins against Hibs and Motherwell twice. It wasn’t supposed to be like this for the prodigal son.

And yet, they’re still top of the league, albeit with Rangers having a game in hand.

They’ve scored more goals than their city rivals, have a higher expected goals count and have created more big chances.

They’ve not been fluent nearly as often as Rodgers would have liked – he’s had some harsh words to say about their negativity and their lack of speed of thought and movement along the way – but they’re still there.

And if they win, or even draw, on Sunday you’d make them favourites to win the title because they’ll have Rangers at Celtic Park post-split, a Celtic Park that will be heaving to the sound of 60,000 fans getting on the backs of visiting players, many of whom have never closed a deal as big as this one.

Rangers will be encouraged by Callum McGregor’s absence since the end of February and hopeful that, even if he is ready to play, then he won’t be at his totemic best.

For Rodgers, it’s bigger this time. He has never faced this kind of game in Scotland before, a game that if lost could – and most probably would – cost him the title.

That’s alien territory for the Celtic manager. In his previous incarnation they’d have been organising the party by now.

It’s what makes Sunday so intoxicating. Rodgers, and how he will be viewed by Celtic fans in victory or in defeat, is a drama unto itself. Given their complicated feelings about him, it’s a love-in or a pile-on balanced on a knife edge.

All 15 of his Old Firm games have been important, but this one holds more peril than any of the others.

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