The Old Firm being drawn together in the Scottish Cup semi-final is exciting for fans in Scotland, but it has hardly sent ripples of excitement through Europe.

The historic fixture game is something that people on the continent are aware of, but that’s about as far as it goes.

I spend a lot of my time in Germany, and when you talk to German fans about Celtic and Rangers they know about the teams and the rivalry, but I think that sometimes we need a bit of a reality check in Scotland.

It’s not as though people are on the edge of their seats in anticipation for the game and dashing out to the nearest pub to watch it. It gets lost rather in the competition for viewers.

It is the marquee game in Scotland of course and it will remain that way, but as excited as we get, I don’t think anybody is under any illusions that it is something that fans from Istanbul to Paris are itching to take in.

The difference this season is that Celtic are clearly so far in front of everyone in Scotland, and I include Rangers in that. It used to be a rivalry of equals and it simply is not anymore.

That’s not to say that Rangers shouldn’t believe they can beat Celtic in a one-off game, they did it as recently as a year ago. It’s difficult to make a case for Rangers though, just as it is for any other team in Scotland playing Celtic.

They can have an off-day and off-periods in matches, but apart from the draw with Inverness it has been slim-pickings for the others, and that’s where Rangers are. They aren’t any better than any of the other teams in Scotland outwith Celtic.

Yes, they had a good result against Hamilton, but we know their deficiencies are still there and the weaknesses too. It would take something really special and Celtic to fail to perform.

Rangers will be highly motivated and Celtic don’t always perform at Hampden, even though they were very impressive as they saw off Aberdeen in the League Cup final back in November, but I still don't fancy their chances.

Rangers are decided underdogs, but they have to go in believing they can do it, even if nobody else really does.