By Mikael Lustig's admission, this game no longer generates the same excitement back in his homeland that it once did.

Back when Lustig was growing up in Sweden, the games between Celtic and Rangers were screened live given the colossal interest in Henrik Larsson, a man who was so often the Rangers' tormentor-in-chief.

While interest in the game has waned since Larsson's departure, Lustig has acknowledged there has been no such dilution in Scotland.

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“It was bigger before back home," said the fullback. "The Old Firm games used to be shown live on the telly when Henrik Larsson was playing for Celtic and I used to watch them.

"This fixture hasn’t lost anything in Scotland but maybe the rest of the world doesn’t see it the same way.

“It’s special game and you can feel it building up during the week. You can sense that something extra but when you walk out for the warm-up it’s just like a normal game. We want to win this trophy, though.

“It’s an amazing feeling when you win against Rangers, however, because it means to much to the supporters and everyone else. It’s the best feeling there is.”

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The player himself will be content to get onto the park on Sunday in order to play a role.

Last month he watched the game at Ibrox as Celtic won 3-2 from the stand along with the Celtic support, a position he felt more nervous in than he would have had he been on the pitch and at the heart of it all.

“I actually got most nervous watching from the stand in the last game, especially as it was such a roller-coaster of a game," he smiled.

"I would much rather be out there playing. I sat in among the fans with other players; I wasn’t beside Leigh [Griffiths]. I tried to stay as far away from him as possible!"

It is difficult to ascertain the extent of the psychological impact the win that day had on Rangers.

Having had Celtic on the canvas at one point they allowed the game to slip away from them. It is something that may well play on their minds ahead of tomorrow's encounter.

“We have played well there [Hampden] in recent seasons," said Lustig. "The pitch as been good the last couple of times we’ve been there which has meant we can play the football we want. It’s a big pitch as well so we feel comfortable about it.

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“I do think we have an advantage after winning with ten men the last time. They would have felt that day they had a really good opportunity to finally win but we went down to ten men and still managed to win, it was probably a blow to them.

“We didn’t play great but still had the feeling that we the players who could do that little bit extra and you saw that with all three goals. So, even when we don’t play well, we still believe we can find a way to win the game.

“We are strong. Most other teams would have tried to take a point that day; however, our mind-set is such that we would be confident if we lose a player.”

As Celtic aim for a back-to-back Treble, Lustig believes that the lessons of last season will enable the Parkhead side to maintain their equilibrium.

Brendan Rodgers' side are within touching distance of a feat that has never been witnessed in Scottish football before but Lustig has maintained that the focus has to be on taking slow steps towards it rather than getting carried away.

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“It would be a great achievement, of course, something that has never been done before," he said. "We want to win as many trophies as we can, of course but if we don’t win this weekend we won’t start panicking because we still know that we are the No.1 team in Scotland. Of course, we’ll still try and win on Sunday.

“We were under pressure last year, with people wondering whether we could complete the season as Invincibles as well as winning the first treble for 16 years. But we stayed calm and didn’t say anything – and then we did it. Hopefully, we can do that again.”