Ange Postecoglou has revealed that he will be using last season's Scottish Cup semi-final heartache to Rangers as fuel for his Celtic squad.
The Aussie boss lifted the League Cup at the first time of asking last term, but he lost out to Giovanni van Bronckhorst's Govan outfit in the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup.
As a result, Postecoglou has mixed memories of Hampden Park and ahead of this weekend's showdown with Kilmarnock, the Parkhead boss has urged his team to get the job done.
Asked about losing out to Rangers last term, he said: "I think you use it as fuel because you can't just dismiss these things.
"You can't just put to one side because a lot of support is about how you overcome challenges.
"How you overcome things that happened in the past and you address it, not ignore it.
"Losing the semi-final last season wasn't an enjoyable experience wasn't enjoyable for all us.
"There's a finality to it because there is no point analysing cup games you lose because you're out.
"In the league, you can drop a game or have a poor performance but you have a chance to rectify it a week after.
"Our players are prepared, they like a challenge and they are looking forward to testing themselves in that environment."
Meanwhile, Derek McInnes highlighted the qualities his Kilmarnock players will need to demonstrate if they are to shock Celtic in their Viaplay Cup semi-final on Saturday.
He said: “Players don’t live on the moon, they know how good Celtic are.
“They watch them, they see how strong the individuals are, and it is wrong for me to over-elaborate all these points.
“We always look at the opponent but it is my job and the staff’s job to get the players prepared properly for every game.
“And when it is a team like Celtic who are such a strong opponent, we still have to do the right things for us.
“We have to make sure the players are right physically and make them right tactically which is a big part of it when you play a stronger opponent but the mental part of it is probably the biggest part of it.
“I need to see personality, I need to see life about us, I need to see confidence and I want people who are going to impress.
“Sometimes it is more than just ability you need to overcome an opponent like Celtic, it is not just the playing side of it, it is everything else and I will be looking for that this weekend.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here