Rumour Mill: Celtic | Rangers | Alan Stubbs

Ronny Deila last night hailed the courage of his players as Celtic kept their Europa League hopes alive in a remarkable 3-3 draw against Inter Milan.

“It’s going to very very tough now,” said Deila. “We have to be lucky and put together the best performance so far under my command. But it’s possible so we are looking forward to the game.

“I believe we can score in the San Siro. The most important thing is not to concede as we did tonight. Defensively, we have to be much better.” (Scotsman)

Kenny McDowall wants promotion by any means

Kenny Mcdowall believes he will learn who the real characters are in his team tonight as Rangers seek to avoid equalling their worst run of defeats for nearly 30 years.

He said: “They actually need to lift themselves. I can only do so much. Walter used to say it in many of his team-talks that we can only give so much motivation.

“That’s what we need – people who will roll the sleeves up.

McDowall insists, however, that the Ibrox men simply have to get back up – by whatever means – having been heartened by the performance against Hibs last Friday night even if Rangers lost to the Leith men for a third time this season.

He said: “Even if we don’t catch Hearts, we still have to make a play-off situation.

“Does it matter how we go up? We’d love to go up as champions – of course we would. But if we can’t do that, what’s the next best?

“You need to win the play-offs and get yourself up via that.” (Daily Record)

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Alan Stubbs says pressure is on Rangers

Alan Stubbs has cranked up the heat on rangers - and warned they can’t afford more slip-ups. Stubbs said: “The pressure is now on Rangers as everybody expected the to finish first in the league. There is still every chance they will finish second if they win their three games in hand. So there is NO pressure on Hibs. That is not me playing mind games with Rangers that is simply the facts.” (Sun)

Campagnaro hails Celtic Park

Hugo Campagnaro spoke to Inter Channel after the Nerazzurri took part in a six-goal thriller at Celtic Park. “”It’s a shame we conceced that goal at the death but it’s not a bad scoreline for us to take home,” the 34-year-old mused. “It could have gone a lot better for us but we ended up with three big away goals to take home. In any case we played better today so I’m happy. “Their second goal? The ball took a deflection, that sort of thing can happen sometimes in the area, especially when the game’s being played so fast. We have to be careful.” The veteran defender also had this to say on Celtic Park itself: “It’s an amazing ground, the fans really get behind the team. Now we’ll have the same backing on our side at San Siro, and we have to put everything into it.” (www.inter.it)

Dundee United set to sell out League Cup Final briefs

Dundee United’s League Cup Final ticket allocation will be close to being sold out by the time it’s due to go on general sale.

By first thing on Thursday, sales were hovering around the 15,000 mark, meaning the full 18,000 briefs earmarked for them will be handed over by the SPFL.

And with sales still brisk, they could be virtually all gone by the time the general sale is due to start at 9am today (Evening Telegraph)

Staying in top six no idle threat from Dundee

A weekend win would keep Dundee in the top six and, with fifth-place Hamilton on the slide right now, they look catchable.

Paul, though, will be happy to take three points and see where that leaves his side.

“It’s nice we are in the top six and we just want to try to stay in it.

“We’ve clawed back a lot of points on Hamilton and you always try to look at the next team above to catch.

“Can we catch Hamilton? I don’t know but the most important thing for the team is to try to keep winning.” (Evening Telegraph)

Raith Rovers target a Rangers double

Raith Rovers manager Grant Murray has stressed that the recent Scottish Cup win at Ibrox will have no bearing on Friday night’s league match at Stark’s Park.

Rovers will look to do the double on Rangers after humbling them on their own turf a fortnight ago, but Murray is still haunted by the two league hammerings his team suffered at the hands of the Glasgow giants this season.

“The cup win was great for us but it will have no bearing whatsoever on Friday,” he told the Press. “People will look at the cup game but we know how good Rangers can be on their day.

“We experienced them at their best in our two league matches this season and we found it hard on both occasions. We just have to make sure that the minimum we give is what got us that result at Ibrox.” (Fife Press)

News in brief:

• Miguel Pallardo is set to extend his stay at Tynecastle. (Sun)

• Gary Teale has stood by his comments over referee Steven McLean that landed him a two match touchline ban. (Sun)

• Mario Balotelli has caused a storm at Anfield after taking the ball from Jordan Henderson to score the penalty that saw them beat Besiktas. Steven Gerrard has labelled him as ‘disrespectful’. (Mirror)

SEE ALSO:

•Jim Murphy begins talks on football drink ban

•Celtic Park sees rousing display on and off field