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For those willing to test their German ... Leon Balogun im Interview: "Mich interessieren diese elenden Kampagnen nicht mehr" ... for the rest I snatched the translation from FF Really interesting interview with Leon Balogun in the German football magazine Kicker: "Leon Balogun (32) won the championship in his first season with Rangers. In the interview, however, he also talks about a recent incident that still affects people. Mr Balogun, how much joy about the championship is still there after three weeks? Very much, when I think back to the moment. But our everyday life went straight on. We still had the Europa League and now we still have the cup. And above all, there are still a few records to break. Fewest goals conceded, most games to nil, things like that. Of course we tried to enjoy the moment, but we had to ramp up again pretty quickly. I'm sure that when we then receive the trophy on the last matchday, we'll be able to celebrate properly. For the first time since 2011, Rangers have edged past arch-rivals Celtic. How? I'm probably not one hundred per cent the right person to answer that question. I've only been here a year now and this year everything has been outstanding. There are some people at the club who have experienced and had to experience completely different times. Rangers had to be relegated to the fourth division after insolvency in 2012 and had to work their way back up bit by bit. What I've witnessed at least: Since Steven Gerrard took over (in June 2018, ed.), we've been on the heels of the others. "The others". You're not allowed to pronounce Celtic? What do you mean allowed. I try to avoid it, also out of respect for the deep rivalry. I wasn't there myself, but there must have been a player here once who had shoes that were largely green. Someone on the coaching staff must have made a friendly request not to wear those shoes again. Fortunately, you don't wear a green jersey with the Nigerian national team... On one of my first international trips as a Ranger, I posted something in my Instagram story, whereupon a fan wrote: "Yeah, big guy. I'm happy for you and all. But please reconsider your colours." That was just a joke, of course, but you can already see that it goes very deep. So back to why were Rangers better than "the other club" this time? We didn't collapse. We still took each game on its own merits and always kept the big picture in mind. We're still unbeaten, and then of course you hear a lot of sidetracks, expectations rise. But we've really stayed very relaxed about that. There is meticulous work behind it. After draws, and there were only five of them, it felt like a defeat in the dressing room. Not because it was so dramatic, but because we just resolved so firmly not to allow ourselves to do that. In the past, the other club would strike and take advantage of our mistakes. This time it was the other way round. And you don't get a 20-point lead just like that. Was the special touch of spoiling Celtic's historic tenth title in a row still felt? Yes, because the fans weren't there. A huge part of what makes the club, the derbies and the atmosphere, is gone. The club tried to explain to the new players how much that means. Because they didn't know such a situation. The fans weren't there, but our players were well aware of what a long time of suffering the supporters had gone through in the years before. Then you get a feeling for it. The club had to apologise after the championship was decided because there was a bit too much celebrating with the fans outside the Ibrox stadium. Let's face it, you can't really blame anyone, can you? I can't imagine that things would have been different elsewhere in a long-awaited championship. And I don't think the club is responsible for that. It's not like the club can lock down the whole of Glasgow. All you can do is appeal. But please: Especially in this lousy situation that we've been experiencing for over a year, there was something that made a lot of people in Glasgow incredibly happy. And then they gave free rein to their emotions. Under the current circumstances of the pandemic, was it the best decision? Probably not. Is it still emotionally understandable? Absolutely. The maker of the success is not quite so unknown: Steven Gerrard. Was it him who convinced you to move from Brighton to Glasgow in the summer? Quite simply, yes. How? I was on loan at Wigan and we had five or six games left. My advisor said he had two offers for me. One of which he thought was "unbelievably big". How do you build up a suspense? Yeah, really. I thought, "What's next? What's this?" When he told me, my first reaction was rather calm. It wasn't so much the club I had in mind at first, it was more the Scottish League. I don't think I'm stepping on anyone's toes by saying that this is not one of the most popular in the world now. But apparently you could be persuaded. My advisor told me a few more things, and I did a lot of research myself. I could play in the Europa League, train under an absolute legend. And I could also play for a championship. In Mainz or Brighton, it was always about staying in the league. And what did Gerrard tell you? We arranged a Zoom call with Gerrard and the sporting director, Ross Wilson. I had a bit of a fan moment and admitted it, so we could all laugh about it. He told me what the job was, what he expected from me. That I fit in perfectly with the way he wants to play and that I have the right attributes, i.e. athleticism, dynamism, aggressiveness, security on the ball. That suited his philosophy of shaping the game and pressing high. Then it was really just a matter of coming to an agreement. He would then contact me after games, call me or write to me on WhatsApp. He gave me the feeling that he really wanted me in his team. You were seeded straight away. How does it feel to be in a defensive line when you almost never concede a goal? When we had just one action where the opponent came to cross, we looked at each other as if we were 0:2 behind and almost conceded the third goal. Sure, you develop a certain confidence and maybe even match luck from that, but we never rested on that. It definitely fills you with pride. Just recently, however, something went wrong, and that was in the Europa League. Did you have the feeling that you could have done better against Prague? Prague definitely had that feeling and in the end, unfortunately, they were right. I saw a video where they cheered when they saw our name in the draw for the last 16. We didn't approach it like that at all. Doable task, yes. But difficult. You have to take a team that beats Leverkusen in the group stage and knocks out Leicester one hundred percent seriously. If you look at both games against us, the better team probably won. That's how honest you have to be. After one hour, your teammate Kemar Roofe saw the red card, a little later you received the second yellow. However, the match was overshadowed by a racism scandal. Slavia professional Ondrej Kudela allegedly insulted Glen Kamara. I was already in the dressing room at the time, but I saw it with Kemar in the dressing room and had it all told to me afterwards. What can you say? I wasn't personally affected, but it could just as easily have been me. Or Kemar, who was actually insulted on social media afterwards. These are things that just make you angry. Unbelievably angry. You look at the scene and you see: the guy comes running in from 30 yards and picks out the player. Glen, you should know, is a totally calm and relaxed player, one who always avoids conflict. He had tried to laugh the situation off because he had already been mobbed several times. And then to see the guy holding his hands over his mouth and whispering deliberately in Glen's ear ... That's incomprehensible to me. That was calculating. He knew one hundred per cent what he was doing. There was no apology. Slavia even denied the incident. Kudela is said to have "only" said "fucking guy". An apology would have been a lie anyway. If you're so deliberately trying to cover up what you're saying, you know exactly what you're doing. If you think you have to behave like this, stand up to your husband and don't talk your way out of it afterwards. He seriously tried to make the victim out to be a liar. That's even worse. The incident triggered a huge wave, with professionals everywhere showing solidarity with their teammate. Even outside the Old Firm, Celtic captain Scott Brown gave Kamara a hug. Do you think it helps to avoid further cases? No. I took my hat off to Scott Brown's action, it was unbelievable. A very, very big gesture. Also the way he said after the game that there are things bigger than football. That was huge. It's right that it's making waves around the world, it has to be. But? What's missing is UEFA or FIFA taking action. I'm no longer interested in these wretched campaigns. That's all well and good, but the campaign content must be lived out authentically and not just remain empty words. Designing captain's armbands with the inscription "No Racism" is useless if racist incidents are not punished in the end. I have the feeling that "people of colour" are used to promote the supposedly cosmopolitan and inclusive values of the FIFA and UEFA brands. But when these very players are targeted, all too often there is just embarrassed silence. I wish that the expensive campaigns would be followed by action. You seem resigned. I don't expect much. The past shows us again and again what happens in such moments - namely nothing. It's just sad. But I, for one, will not stop loudly calling attention to these things. In the hope that something will change. There is far too much silence."

Thistle v Spiders - an absolute powder keg. Makes El Salvador and Honduras look like an afternoon in the Church House Library.

Wanting your country to defeat another is one step away from xenophobia. Appalling that this sort of thing still goes on. It's 2021, for crying out loud!

Pity he couldn't get rid of Sturgeon now that would be some four timer

In a Scottish context, I suspect the first player that raised our awareness was Joe Baker? He played for Hibs and along with Denis Law, moved to Italy. He was the son of a serving Scots soldier, born in England. He received several caps for England. Tommy Docherty took over as Scotland's national coach in 1971. His first two games were against Portugal at Hampden and Belgium at Pittodrie. He called up Bob Wilson of Arsenal. The Keeper was similar to Baker, born in England of a serving Scots soldier. We won both games, 2-1 and 1-0 respectively. By 1978, we had three players born in England, but considering themselves Scots playing for Scotland. I think most folks are sympathetic to the above circumstances, it's the tenuous Grandparent rule that causes most discern among supporters.

If you mean that all international sport (between nation states) should be ended, then I concede you have a point. George Orwell said as much in an essay after the Moscow Dynamo tour of Britain after the WW2.

When SNP Holyrood introduced the OBFA it clearly didn’t include Scotland international matches did it ? Think this alienated a few of us who used to attend Scotland matches

I remember Jim Forrest banging in 57 goals in one season now that's a striker

I'm with John, couldn't care less who's playing for Scotland, although admittedly I loved watching Goram, Gough, McCall, Mojo and Ally form the spine of the team when I was a teenager. Those guys played with McStay, Collins et al no probs, so I've never seen why supporters would be any different. F### supporting an EPL eleven.

Griffith's goals against England were fantastic both in terms of their quality but also their timing. Scotland, of course, managed to still mess it up with only seconds to go. I remember seeing a young Charlie Nicholas score a cracker against Switzerland I think on his Scotland debut. He was cheered to the rafters by the Scotland support that night, the majority of who must have been Rangers supporters. I did look at the Scotland side last night and think 'could they get anymore Celtic players or supporters into that side!' but once the match started I can temporarily suspend allegiances. In the end I accepted Maurice Johnson scoring for Rangers, I can accept Griffiths scoring for Scotland.

Scotland game was a decent watch. More so second half.

I enjoy an international tournament. Unlike so much top level club football there's still an element of the unknown about the Euro's and the World Cup. Yes, the bigger nations have an inbuilt advantage, but less so than the big European clubs have in my opinion. I like that smaller countries like Croatia, Uruguay, Denmark, Portugal and Holland can reach the semis and even the finals of major tournaments. Although the grandparent rule and creeping trend of the nationalisation of players there's still a purity to international football that is long gone from the club game. I like that a player like Gareth Bale has to play for Wales alongside some guy from Div 2, that Ronaldo can't just decide to play for Italy or China, he can only play for Portugal, no matter how good or bad the rest of the team are. I've great memories of watching international football. My first big football memory was the 78 World Cup, I was transfixed by the colour and spectacle of it all. Of course I also believed Scotland were going to win it but that disappointment aside players like Boniek, Hans Krankle, Jonny Rep and Mario Kempes were huge stars for me during the tournament and huge currency in playground sticker swaps. Ten years ago I watched Spain beat Germany in the World Cup semi final in a bar in Pamplona. The San Fermin festival was on and the first big bull fight of the festival was taking place at the same time so the bar was surprisingly quiet. Pamplona is Basque country, I got talking to a couple of guys from San Sebastian who had driven down to watch the game. They wanted Spain to win, Xabi Alonso was Basque so they felt they could support this Spain side, just not publicly in San Sebastian. As the bull fights finished the bar filled up and when Spain scored the only goal of the game late on pretty much everyone cheered. The consensus in Pamplona that evening was that while many of them didn't consider themselves Spanish and were very uncomfortable with outward signs of Spanish nationalism, that Spain team, dominated by Catalans, was one they could get behind. International football has lost some of its sparkle for me though. It's rare now for a player you've never heard of to light up a tournament anymore. That used to happen every couple of years in the 70s and 80s. Nowadays some fleet-footed Scandinavian catches your eye and when you Google you discover he's been a Man City for 2 years playing only one first team game and is currently on loan in Holland. Likewise a hot prospect from South America is almost always in Madrid or Barcelona by the time they've left their teens. I think the truly great players achieve true greatness on the international stage. By either dragging their small, normally also ran nation to a tournament in the first place or by simply excelling on the world stage while the whole world is watching. I remember watching Brian Laudrup go toe to toe with Brazil at France 98, demonstrating to everyone just what a player he was. That same tournament Zidane announced his greatness, following in the footsteps of Pele, Cruyff, Beckenbaur, Platini and Maradona, players who reminded you why love this game in the first place. As for Scotland, well, I'm typing this as we're playing. It's hardly transfixing me and in all honesty their games don't interest me in the same way as Rangers matches do. They did once upon a time and who knows maybe they will again someday in the future. I did cheer Leigh Griffith's goals against England a couple of years ago as enthusiastically as any Rangers goals, and I was gripped by the penalty shootout last year that saw us qualify for the Euros. But I've not been to a Scotland match for decades and the tartan army and their fancy dress leaves me cold. I'll watch their matches whenever the Euros come around, but with little hope and no expectation. I do still take pride in Rangers players doing well on the international stage, whoever they play for.

So we will be basically be supporting an English national side? No thanks. Bills original post is spot on. I used to love World Cups and some of my fondest memories of watching football have involved these big tournaments but they now just leave me cold. Saying that so does the CL. I haven't seen a live CL game in years. It bores me to death tbh

Brora’s first game in weeks. What will they be like when they get match fit?

Yep, I agree with that and its has massively diluted the UEFA (Europa). I say bring back the Cup Winners Cup also. But when you feed the seagulls fish they are coming back for more and now the 4-5 top leagues wouldnt go anywhere near the former European Cup. Nah, not for me. Far too weak at the back and stale in the midfield this season. Man City ripped them apart in the league 4-1 at Anfield and would do the same. Bayern would hit them for about 5. Chelsea wouldn't concede against them.

I agree with City v Bayern, but the Madrid/Liverpool game could go either way. Both teams are playing poorly this season, but like you i would slightly favour Madrid especially if they can finally get a tune out of Hazard and their knowhow in Europe.