Former Rangers star Bert Konterman believes the Old Firm derby between the Gers and Celtic is the only one true derby in Europe.

The Light Blues, who returned to the Scottish Premiership after a gap of four years, have lost all of their three meetings in all competitions with the Hoops in the present campaign.




Rangers were thrashed 5-1 at Paradise in the league in September before losing the corresponding fixture 2-1 at Ibrox in December, with a 1-0 defeat against their arch-rivals in the Scottish League Cup sandwiched in between.

However Konterman, who spent three years at Rangers between 2000 and 2003 and also has experience of scoring against Celtic, insisted that there is only one derby in Europe – the Old Firm.
 


“No”, he told Rangers TV, when asked could anything have prepared him for the Old Firm derby.

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“I’ve seen a lot of derbies in the world, I’ve played in a few, and I went with Arthur Numan to see the Istanbul derby between Fenerbache and Besiktas.

“But there is only one derby in Europe and it’s the Old Firm.”

Konterman went on to add his 30-yard strike against Celtic in the 2002 Scottish Cup semi-final made his time in Scotland much easier as he initially struggled to make his mark at Ibrox.

“Yeah! In that season, I played a good season, but after that goal, I was rewarded more and people were more positive about me”, he continued.

“For the fans, it was so important and the media started writing positively about me and the team.

“It was an unbelievable time and everything changed for me.

"All the people were so positive and even now they still talk about that goal!

“It made my time in Scotland much easier, but even before then I had a great time, but that turned everything upside down.”

Konterman helped Rangers to win a league title and two Scottish League Cups.