Red rag to a bull

In a previous time in his native Portugal Pedro was, by all accounts, a matador. Hibs' manager is like a red rag to a bull whenever he enters Rangers' stadium.

I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that Neil wound up a section of the Rangers fans when his team scored a goal on Saturday.

Equally, I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that, prior to that goal being scored, Neil had endured toxic abuse from the same section of the crowd.

It is a bit rich, therefore, for supporters to request police intervention and worrying if there is any forthcoming when a sizeable police presence did nothing at the time.

On the basis that most people believe I achieve accuracy with something less than regularity I'll also say that I was correct on Superscoreboard on Friday night when asked what kind of reception Lennon would get at Ibrox the following day.

My reply was that it would be "Utterly hostile."

I'll present the cigarette lighter propelled at Lennon from the stand behind him as exhibit A while suggesting my words were well chosen.

The manager is as indiscriminate as he can be indiscreet at times. He'll have a go at anyone, Ally McCoist and Jim Duffy, to name just two, have been on the receiving end of Lennon's combative nature.

But I am on record on several occasions as saying the treatment Neil has received since coming to Scotland to join Celtic as a player seventeen years ago has embarrassed the country.

Bullets through the post. Suspicious packages. Custodial sentences for assailants. Attacked by a fan during the course of a game at Tynecastle while Celtic manager.

The list of offences is horrendous and those involved should hang their heads in shame.

The statement from Rangers supporters group Club 1872 requesting police action regarding Lennon is therefore hypocritical, like the one issued earlier this season by Celtic's Green Brigade after they had been thrown out of the ground for unfurling paramilitary banners during a European tie with Linfield.

Both sets of fans want some kind of official recognition. Neither deserves it.

Lennon revelled in his team's success at Ibrox. He did so in a manner that fans would love if he was on their side.

But Neil used to play for Celtic and that makes him a target for abuse. Former Rangers players or managers would be similarly reviled by the more irascible element among the Celtic support under the same circumstances.

Why not just admit it?

There are more important things to talk about this week once we've lightened the mood by acknowledging the comedic aspects of the weekend's football.

We should have known when Caixinha's legs went rubbery in the shrubbery outside the ground of the fourth best team in Luxembourg last month that the curtain had gone up on a season that mixed eccentricity with electricity.

Now we've gone the whole hog and had two players, Kilmarnock's Kirk Broadfoot and Hearts Esma Goncalves, sent off because the first one pulled the second one's ponytail and got a slap for his trouble.

You've got to laugh, haven't you?

But on Wednesday night it's serious time surrounding a game that is no laughing matter.

Not when something between twenty-five and thirty million pounds is at stake when Celtic play Astana in the first leg of the play-off round tie that will decide who goes into the group stages of the Champions League.

There were times last season when, if Brendan Rodgers had fallen out of a window, he would have floated serenely in an upward direction. The Celtic manager, it appeared, could do nothing wrong.

But this season there have been hints that if Brendan fell from the same window he would require immediate hospitalisation.

To lose one key defender, Dedryck Boyata, to long term injury is unlucky. To lose a second one, Eric Sviatchenko, for a protacted period is definitely a back-hander from fate.

And to have all of that topped by the loss of the striker, Moussa Dembele, imagined to be the club's most valuable property could be an invitation to assume that somebody's got it in for you.

And yet Celtic remain undefeated in domestic and European competition, having not yet conceded a single goal in the Champions League qualifiers.

But now the task confronting the manager and his players is pressing and needing to be negotiated under trying circumstances.

Celtic's performance at Firhill on Friday night, beating Partick Thistle by the only goal of the game, was a pale imitation of any given by the same group of players last season.

Nir Bitton is a midfield player who is pretending to be a central defender due to emergency circumstances. And it shows.

Leigh Griffiths is being used sparingly up front because he has ongoing injury concerns and is the only recognised striker available to Rodgers.

You might be inclined to ask why a club with the handsome financial resources available to them have allowed their squad to become so limited in terms of choice affecting key areas of the side.

And plenty of people will ask precisely that question if Celtic can't find a way past the side from Kazakhstan who stand between them and a small fortune.

Wednesday night, with its need for an emphatic victory and the avoidance of an away goal for Astana, will be a major test of Rodgers' ability to perform his previous, gravity-defying trick when the window of opportunity opens

• Hugh Keevins
• superscoreboard