Given the injury-plagued nature of his time at Rangers, former Ibrox midfielder Christian Nerlinger likely looks back on his Ibrox spell as one of the highlights of his playing career at German giants Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund.
Still, it would be quite a development if Nerlinger, now a manager, was found cheering on Celtic as they crossed Glasgow to face his former club on Sunday. But according to one of the players in his books, he may have done the unthinkable and changed allegiances.
As if that wasn’t enough to intimidate Rangers fans, if Celtic winger Nicolas Kuhn plays a part in helping his side to victory against their side at the weekend then their great rivals will have Nerlinger to thank for the contribution he brought. took him from Rapid Vienna to Glasgow in January.
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Kuhn is relishing the opportunity to step up to Ibrox for Nerlinger to show just how special Old Firm fixtures can be and is counting on his manager’s unwavering support despite heading to the other half of the city from 2017. the place where he once traded.
“I’m looking forward to our game against the Rangers,” Kuhn said.
“I’ve heard a lot about you. I contacted my manager.” [agent, Nerlinger]He played for Rangers. Before coming here, he told me how important the match was for people. I’m looking forward to it.
“No jokes made yet [with Nerlinger] – but I guess he’s a Celtic fan now! He played a big role in me signing for Celtic. He told me a lot about the club and how great it was.
“Of course there is pressure. But I played for Bayern and they want to win every match there.
“I love derbies. We had a derby with 1860 Munich at Bayern. That was pretty big. I’ve had some very good derbies anyway.
“Obviously it’s huge. I want to play every game. We have a really good team and we all challenge each other.
“We are all competing for places in the team and putting pressure on each other.”
Kuhn will have capitalized on his chance with an eye-catching performance in the win over Livingston at the weekend, leaving no harm to Brendan Rodgers’ starting XI on Sunday; Once he gets over his good performances, the winger will start to show his quality more consistently. documented dental problems.
The weight he lost before arriving in Glasgow has slowly come back and so has the change of pace, which was identified as one of his key attributes when he signed for the club.
“Since it was winter break in Austria, I came here without any pre-season preparation,” he said.
“Ross County was my first game.
“I’m happy to be back to my normal weight and regain my strength. Maybe I’m not 100 percent yet, but I’m definitely getting better.
“I thought we played a great game [against Livingston]. Defensively we were strong because Livingston had no chance.
“We were happy to concede the first goal in the second half. Then we found more space and made the score 3-0. The offensive side of our game was good recently.
“For me personally, it took some time to get used to the new system. But now I feel like he’s getting better every game.”
One of the things that helped Celtic feel at home in Livingston was the fact that three-quarters of the stadium was handed over to the fans; Kuhn was surprised to witness this.
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Given that the new agreement on away allocations brokered last week will not come into force until the start of next season, it will be a case of extremes when they leave Ibrox.
This means there will be no Celtic fans outside the director’s box and the bench, but Kuhn is confident they will be able to block out the noise of the home fans, just as his team-mates did when they won 1-0 at the stadium in September. .
“It was incredible [at Livingston]said.
“It felt like a home game. The fans were great.
“We need to focus on ourselves next week.”
The Old Firm game will actually be the starting gun in the final encounter leading to the league title. If there is a winner then they will definitely be strong favorites to lift the trophy.
Far from being daunted by the importance of the game, Kuhn says the Celtic players are relishing the challenges they will face next week and in the weeks to come.
“We should be excited,” he said.
We want to score points and we know we have to play well.
“We’re in a good place right now and you can see in the last few games the offense is good. The defense is strong as well, so we’re happy with what’s going to happen.”