Advocaat talks up Larsson

Rangers manager Dick Advocaat believes Henrik Larsson is one of the best players in the world - and is even better than Gabriel Batistuta.

The Swede - who netted a hat-trick against Hearts on Sunday night - is likely to be the biggest threat to the Ibrox side in tonight's Scottish League Cup semi-final.

Because the teams are due to meet twice in the space of four days, there has been speculation O'Neill will rest Larsson tonight and keep him fresh for Sunday's league encounter at Celtic Park. That would please Advocaat, who has compared the talents of Celtic's star player to those of the Argentinian player but insists Larsson's work-rate makes him a more dangerous player.

Larsson's partnership with former Chelsea striker Chris Sutton has helped Celtic's title charge this season, propelling them nine points clear of Rangers.

And Advocaat believes the time the Swedish international has spent in Scotland has helped turn him into the top-class player that he is today.

"He is one of the best players in Europe - maybe the world," he said. "If you see Batistuta, he doesn't see 90 minutes but he scores two goals and that is the real quality from Batistuta.

"But I think Larsson has even more because, besides being a good player and a good goalscorer, he has a tremendous work-rate.

"I like Larsson but I like Sutton as well and the combination between the two - one is a little bit nasty, which I like as well."

The League Cup tie at Hampden Park sees the first of two vital meetings between the Old Firm, who meet four days later at Parkhead in the league.

Claudio Reyna admits only three points will be good enough for Rangers on Sunday - and he insists a good result at Hampden could lead to a win at Parkhead.

"We need to go into both games and have the mentality that we're going to try to win but also be cautious," he said.

Meanwhile, Celtic manager Martin O'Neill insists the Parkhead club have nothing to fear from Rangers. That confession makes grim reading for their Glasgow rivals - who are desperately hoping that nerves will take hold at Parkhead.

However, O'Neill insists he is not feeling the heat - because he has bigger concerns.

"I don't think I'm nervous," quipped O'Neill. "This is a very exciting time for me and the players. I'm not worried about these games because I've got other things to worry about. I always find something else to worry about - I worry about death perhaps."

The Celtic manager insists the championship remains their priority this season - but that does not diminish their hunger to win the League Cup.

O'Neill said: "If I'm asked which is the major competition the league matches are always major - there's no doubt about it. But now we are here in the semi-final it doesn't matter because we want to try and win this competition."

Striker Chris Sutton believes tonight's match is just as important as Sunday's title clash and agrees with O'Neill that the players are determined to retain the trophy.

The £6 million striker said: "I think all the players are focused on both the games and tomorrow night is a massive game. `Everybody wants to play against Rangers at Hampden Park and I think everybody is looking forward to it.

"We want to beat Rangers and we want to get through to the final so this is massive. This is a cup game and we want to win cups.

"These are the games you want to play in. It is the semi-final at Hampden Park which is huge and so is Sunday.

"But we'll take every game at a time and first of all we are determined to win tomorrow night.

"We want to win every game and we go out to do just that," added Sutton. "We don't think about losing because we want to keep winning.