Celtic captain Scott Brown is not expecting the Hampden Park pitch to be great when his side take on Rangers in the Scottish Cup semi-final next month.

Hampden Park will host only the second Old Firm derby since Rangers suffered liquidation in 2012, and were forced to start again in the fourth tier of Scottish league football.




The Bhoys scored a League Cup semi-final win over the Gers last season, and Brown admits that he is expecting the pitch to be a tad better than the one they were served the last time the derby took place.

He admits that Scotland’s weather is not ideal for maintaining a good football pitch, but believes the Hampden conditions are a ‘laughing stock’ and should be much better as it is the country’s national stadium.
 


“It probably won’t be the best”, he told the Scotsman. “We just have to accept that every time we come here.  

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“Thinking the worst, if you can play on what we did against Rangers last year then you can play on anything.

“That’s the point, sometimes we’re the laughing stock when it comes to that. That’s part and parcel of the game [here] these days. We can’t keep it in great nick all season because of the weather up here.

“We have to take that on board but it should be a lot better than it is.”

Celtic have league games against Hearts, Dundee and Motherwell before they take on Rangers at Hampden Park on Sunday, 17th April.