Scott Brown proved you can take the man out of Celtic but you can’t take the Celtic out of the man when he faced Rangers after his Glasgow exit.
The now-retired 38-year-old enjoyed plenty of Old Firm clashes during his illustrious 14-year spell with the Hoops from 2007-2021.
He helped the Bhoys to ten league titles, as well as six Scottish Cups and as many League Cups – beating the Ibrox outfit in six finals and will be watching on intently at Hampden on Saturday when the rivals meet.
From his 56 outings against Rangers during his playing days, Brown won 25 matches and lost on 23 occasions, while also picking up a whopping 26 cards.
Many of his bookings came as a result of clashes with Rangers players, with Ryan Kent going one step further when the pair squared up during a 2019 battle at Celtic Park.
Alfredo Morelos had already been shown a red card for an elbow on Brown in an off-the-ball incident during Celtic’s 2-1 win.
And Kent would have also received his marching orders had VAR been in effect, as he was caught punching the midfielder, which saw Brown hit the deck.
While the ex-Liverpool winger escaped punishment from the officials, he was later slapped with a two-game ban.
Brown then reignited his feud with the now-Fenerbahce forward following his move to Aberdeen in a player-coach role.
And he exacted the ultimate revenge on Kent, by having the last laugh… quite literally.
Kent was sent off in the second half at Pittodrie for two bookable offences.
It was Brown who Kent fouled – leading to his early bath – with the former relishing his dismissal.
As an angry Kent was making his way off the pitch, a laughing Brown exchanged words with the forward.
He then proceeded to laugh at the Englishman – pointing towards the tunnel where he began to wave him goodbye.
Rangers right-back James Tavernier attempted to stick up for his teammate, before shoving Brown after he attempted to put his arm round him.
Former Celtic boss Neil Lennon was watching the match for Sky Sports, where he insisted Brown would have been loving getting one over Kent.
Asked whether he was surprised by his actions, the new Rapid Bucharest boss said: ” Not really. He’ll be enjoying this and smelling a bit of blood!
“You can see why the Celtic fans love him.
“Scott is good at the noise up. There is a bit of history there.”
Neil Lennon was in the Sky Sports News studio and had this to say when Ryan Kent was sent off at Pittodrie
pic.twitter.com/Lv7jtq7Jvu
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) January 18, 2022
“There’s obviously a bit of history there, not just with Ryan Kent but with a lot of players. Scotty’s very good at the noise up.
“He’ll be loving it, he’ll be revelling in it and he has done for the last ten or 15 years.”
Rangers and Celtic will once again come to blows on Saturday in the Scottish Cup final, with all signs pointing towards another hectic affair.