Celtic captain Scott Brown has taken a swipe at Rangers ahead of this weekend's Old Firm clash.

The Hoops host Rangers at noon on Sunday, knowing a win would make it seven top-flight titles in a row.

Celtic thrashed Graeme Murty's side 4-0 in the Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden Park earlier in April.

"We didn't put them under enough pressure," said Murty after the humiliating defeat. "We allowed them to play far too easily. All four goals were easily avoidable through just basic, good defending.

"Then in the second half, we gave them a penalty and a sending-off which makes their job far, far easier.

"I said we had to be clinical in both boxes - but we didn't manage that at all."

Rangers currently lie second in the Scottish Premiership but the Celtic captain doesn't think very highly of them.

Vintage Scott Brown

The 32-year-old was speaking at Celtic's new kit launch on Monday night - and couldn't resist stoking the flames ahead of Sunday's clash.

Asked if Rangers are the second best team in Scotland, Brown answered: “No, Hibs are.

“They came up from the Championship and have shown everyone how good they can be. They’ve got a top-quality manager, a good young team. If they can keep that together, who knows what they can do?

“They have definitely given us our toughest games this season.

“They play good football but they’re also up for the battle."

He's not afraid of winding up his opponents.

Rangers finished third last season and a defeat against Celtic on Sunday could see them slip down to fourth.

Brown is very excited at the prospect of winning the title against Rangers - and rallied his player to show how good they really are.

“It would be the icing on the cake [to clinch the league against Rangers], to be perfectly honest,” he said. “Especially for the fans.

"Everyone tried to stop it happening – but now we have a chance to do it.

“We had that disappointing result at the weekend but that means we have a chance to do it on Sunday. Probably nobody else apart from Celtic fans would want this to 
happen.

“It happens so rarely, the chance to win the title in a game against Rangers, so it does give us an incentive. Especially after our disappointing result at the weekend. We really need to show how good we are after a poor performance.

“We need to make sure that, against Rangers, we just show how good we can be – especially in front of our own fans."

The Gers probably didn't need extra incentive not to lose on Sunday - but they've got it in the form of Scott Brown.