Peter Grant has told Celtic they must thrive without their supporters at Ibrox, drawing on his own experience of the first Old Firm match without away fans in April 1994.
The sides meet in the quarter-finals of the Premier Sports Cup with no away fans allowed access to Rangers' ground in accordance with SPFL wishes.
Historic day at Ibrox
Rangers' then owner Sir David Murray had insisted on no Celtic fans being allowed in Ibrox because he blamed them for causing structural damage on a previous visit and accused the Parkhead club of not paying adequate compensation for repairs.
Fergus McCann, who had only just taken over control of Celtic, took a stance and refused to have any of his clubs' directors attend the match by way of protest.
Grant said: "I made my first-team debut for Celtic at Ibrox years earlier, having only been told on the morning of the match by Davie Hay that I was playing. But by the time I went to Ibrox for the first ever Old Firm match without away fans, I had 33 derbies under my belt.
"That will be the case for a few of the Celtic players this weekend but others, like Mika Baur, Camilo Duran, Kasper Hogh and Haissem Hassan, are getting their baptism of fire inside Rangers' ground."
Same ground rules apply
Grant said the same ground rules apply now as then, describing the atmosphere from a player's perspective when there are none of your supporters there.
"Even the warm-up is murder," he said. "You just want the game to begin and, when it does, the best way I can sum it up is you have a humming sound inside your head for 90 minutes.
"It's like hearing the sound of a helicopter and it is only interrupted when there's a break in play. Then you can hear the songs and the hostility being directed towards you."
What made Grant's warm-up different was a light aircraft, hired by some Hoops supporters, which flew over the pitch trailing the message: "Hail, Hail, the Celts are here."
Players must step up
Grant believes the crowd turned on Rangers players when they lost possession or made a bad pass, and that Rangers will have plenty of new signings who have never known what goes on around an Old Firm game.
He said Celtic will need big performances on an individual as well as a collective basis, recalling Packie Bonner in goal making huge saves in that game in 1994 and Simon Donnelly making his Old Firm debut.
"That's what those called on by O'Neill will have to do – step up to the plate and deliver their best without fear," he said.
Grant recalled the attitude before kick-off: "This is some game to win." John Collins got a share of the points by putting Celtic in front with a free-kick but they did not celebrate on the park, saving celebrations for the away dressing-room.
He said: "You want to win a trophy as quickly as you can in the new season. If you're new at the club you also want to show your manager what you can do. It means that you've really arrived at your new club and the fans will love you for it.
"The same principle applies to both teams. The one who bests understands the demands on them will win."
