Jack Butland wants Celtic Park silenced as Rangers keeper looks to hit repeat on Seville soundtrack

Jack Butland savoured the silence in Seville. Now the Rangers No 1 hopes his side can render Celtic Park speechless too as his side look to roar their way back into the title fight.

The Ibrox outfit will be up against it at Parkhead this afternoon as they run out into a red-hot cauldron without a single away fan for backing. Getting the win needed to reignite their Premiership hopes in these circumstances would certainly confound the bookmakers who have priced up Philippe Clement’s men as the 3-1 underdogs.

But it would come as no surprise to Butland, who reckons you only have to look back to December’s trip to Spain for evidence of Gers overcoming even greater odds. The Europa League trip to the Estadio Benito Villamarin pitted the Light Blues team against a Real Betis outfit that had gone seven months without losing at home and had just held Champions League finalists Real Madrid to a draw.

But the Betis faithful were hushed as Clement’s team claimed a famous 3-2 triumph to claim top spot in their section. The job now is to gag the Green Brigade and the rest of the Parkhead faithful.

The Gers goalie said: “You face that [hostility]. I remember Betis and going to Seville and playing there.

“It is a different kind of atmosphere. You are in the arena, everyone is against you, you have to stand up and be counted.

“Unfortunately, the result [last time we travelled to Celtic Park] wasn’t what we wanted, but the opportunities were there. So the belief is there for us. There is definitely an opportunity for us to go and do something special.

Asked if his team had to summon the spirit that took that to that remarkable win in Seville, Butland said: “You could say that. We’ve said before about being written off. It’s happened to us many times before this season and we have proved people wrong.

“We are not fearful, we are confident with what we have in the building. The games we’ve played, despite not getting the results we would have liked, we know there’s been opportunities there.

“So there’s no fear. It’s a special opportunity for us and hopefully at 3pm on Saturday we’re sat in a really happy dressing room, looking forward to the final two matches in the league. It’s intense. There’s something riding on every game.

“Whether it’s going to St Mirren or Kilmarnock or going away to Betis, the pressure is always there. That’s what makes it enjoyable, it’s what football is all about. We have a great opportunity to do something special.”

Today’s showdown will be the final time the Old Firm square off with away allocations absent. There’s no doubt the aura of the fixture has been undermined by the ticket stand-off but we should at least see a semblance of normality return next year after SPFL chiefs ruled that both clubs will have to hand over at least five per cent of their seating capacity to their rivals in future.

Rangers have had to find out the hard way the damaging effects of playing without opposition punters. When you’re on top, the extra noise levels are most certainly welcome.

But if you get off to a slow start as Rangers have done in all three derbies this season, more often than not the home support end up targeting their own team. The challenge for Clement’s side today is to give Celtic a taste of that toxic soundtrack.

“Absolutely it can work both ways,” said Butland. “From your own perspective you are up against it so what more motivation do you want?

“For us it’s an opportunity. Wherever you play, home or away, there’s going to be fans to impress or try to keep quiet. It’s just one of the challenges we are going to face on the day. If you get the right result, perform in the right way, then you can create a slightly different atmosphere.”

Butland is going to have a slightly different defensive pairing in front of him today, with Leon Balogun expected to miss out. Ben Davies made his first start since that Betis triumph as he climbed off the bench to replace the injured Nigerian last week against Kilmarnock and Butland is backing his fellow Englishman to fit right in again today.

“I was buzzing for him,” said the keeper. “For those who have been regulars in the team it’s been great, others have had to work hard and bide their time.

“Ben is a fantastic character who has been kept out of the team by some brilliant defenders who have been performing very well. Ben is a great guy to have around the place.

“He trains really hard so to see him get his opportunity was a huge boost for all of us. He’s one of the good guys and I have every faith in him, there’s no doubts about Ben whatsoever.

“He’s a great left footed defender who puts his body on the line, he reads the game very well also. He’s someone I enjoy training with. I think Betis away where he’s performed well and been absolutely rock solid for us.”

As ever on derby day, the focus will be on the officials as much as the two teams. But Butland hopes whistler Willie Collum gets through the 90 minutes with as little fuss as possible.

He said: “All that you can ask for is that every decision that is made is given the right amount of detail, the right amount of time to look at it and that they go through the processes they work so hard on to get right.

“I would hate to be in that position myself. All you can ask at the end of it is that they went through the right processes and came to the decisions they felt were correct.

“Hopefully that happens on Saturday and there is no injustice. I’m sure the referee will have a good game, VAR will be supportive and we can have a good contest and the best team wins.”