Glasgow: Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers may be talking up the threat Rangers will pose in Saturday’s Old Firm derby, but the match will be the first real test of the progress of Pedro Caixinha’s Ibrox revolution.

Caixinha was parachuted into Ibrox from Al Gharafa in March following Mark Warburton’s exit and has had a rough ride in his brief tenure to date.

Celtic got the better of Rangers in last season’s Scottish Cup semi-final before Caixinha suffered on the sidelines as his side slumped to a 5-1 league defeat in April — their heaviest home loss to Celtic.

However, the 46-year-old was backed by the Rangers board in the summer as he brought in 11 new faces with a similar number heading for the exit door.

The new-look side have taken time to gel and suffered an embarrassing Europa League exit to Luxembourg minnows Progres Niederkorn at the first hurdle.

Draws against Hearts and Partick Thistle — coupled with a defeat to Hibernian — mean Rangers sit third in the table and are already playing catch-up to Celtic.

It is in stark contrast to the situation at Parkhead last season when Rodgers arrived in the east end of Glasgow and made an instant impact without tinkering too much with the squad he inherited from Ronny Deila.

Celtic strolled to a treble under the former Liverpool manager and remain undefeated in 56 domestic matches.

Rodgers’ side have started this season as they ended the last and Rangers go into the match five points behind them in third after just six games.

‘It’s to win the league’

But Caixinha is confident his side will give a better account of themselves than the last time they squared up — despite captain Lee Wallace being ruled out and injury doubts to Portuguese veteran defender Bruno Alves and left-back Declan John.

“I think we are better equipped and I have a clear idea of what we want from the game,” said Caixinha.

“We will have a different approach from our side and it will be a different game than we played last time.

“I need to have a team that really shows character.

“I always say we want to face this league match by match, and by the end, we will look at the table.

“In the table just now, we are five points below them, but we are determined to finish this game just two points below as it is the way we want to approach each one of the individual games.

“I think we can do it.”

Caixinha’s summer spending totalled nearly #9 million ($12.2 million, 10.2 million euros)- significantly more than that of Celtic, who this week recorded a 74 per cent increase in revenue thanks largely to their participation in the Champions League.

Rodgers heaped the pressure on Caixinha by saying the Rangers board wouldn’t be happy with anything but first place this season as a return for their outlay.

“They have clearly spent money in the summer,” said Rodgers, whose side should be boosted by the return from injury of Moussa Dembele and Jozo Simunovic.

“They spent more money than us — and we are a Champions League club — so that tells you that their idea is to win the league.

“It’s not to finish third. Not to finish second above Aberdeen. It’s to win the league.”

— AFP