Dalglish claims Celtic face do or die Old Firm clashes

Kenny Dalglish admits Celtic have to win their two remaining Old Firm games against arch rivals Rangers if his former club are to win the Scottish Premier League title.

Celtic currently trail Rangers by 10 points with 13 games remaining, but they can claw back six of those points by defeating their Glasgow neighbours twice – starting with the visit to Ibrox at the end of February.

Dalglish knows all about the pressure of fighting Rangers for the title after an eight-year spell as a Celtic player.

The Liverpool legend also had a brief spell as Celtic director of football and, speaking in Glasgow at the launch of a new football youth initiative on Wednesday, he said: “Celtic have to get 11 more points than Rangers before the end of the season.

“To do that they have got to give themselves the best possible chance and that is to win the two Old Firm games as well as a lot of others.

“Obviously everyone is envious of Rangers manager Walter (Smith) and the position that Rangers are in.

“They are 10 points clear, there are two Old Firm games to come, one on the 28th of February which is really important for Celtic. But certainly Rangers are in the driving seat.

“They have done fantastically well to get that far in front and I’m sure Celtic are hugely disappointed with the number of points they are behind.”

Meanwhile, Dalglish believes Scotland have a good chance of qualifying for the 2012 European Championships in Poland and Ukraine despite their tough group.

Current European champions Spain are strong favourites to win the section which also contains the Czech Republic, Liechtenstein and Lithuania and as a consequence, the general consensus is that the Scots’ best chance of qualification is by finishing as the best of the runners-up or via a play-off spot.

Scotland have not qualified for the finals of a major tournament since the 1998 World Cup in France but Dalglish, who won a record 102 caps in dark blue, is adamant new boss Craig Levein has no reason to be negative about his team’s chances.

“I think we have got to look forward, be positive, aim as high as we can possibly get and take as much as we can from every game that we play,” Dalglish said.

“We have a difficult job with Spain, Czech Republic, they are two difficult teams.

“But you know what Scotland are like, the better the opposition, the better they play and they are more likely to get a positive result against a good team than a bad team.

“You get your own house in order and if anyone else does you a favour you have got be in a position to capitalise on that.

“A lot of teams will come to Hampden and know that it is going to be a difficult game and I hope Spain and the Czech Republic are going to be two of them.”