Rangers take on Aberdeen tonight in a Scottish Cup quarter-final replay.
The significance of the fixture won’t be lost on many Bears.
While a league challenge is not yet over, the Cup represents the best remaining opportunity for silverware this season.
On Monday, Steven Gerrard ruled out Gareth McAuley, who is suffering from a hamstring problem.
However, there was better news concerning Borna Barisic. The Croatian international has overcome the bout of illness which kept him out of Friday night’s draw against Hibernian.
Despite a disappointing result at Easter Road, Barisic replacing Halliday is the only change to the starting lineup.
Kyle Lafferty replaces Ross McCrorie on the bench, while Andy Firth is also in the dugout, rather than Wes Foderingham.
There’s been an extra competitiveness to fixtures between these two sides this season. Therefore, progression to the semi-final won’t be straightforward.
Waiting for Gerrard’s men in the last four are Neil Lennon’s Celtic.
If that doesn’t serve as effective motivation tonight, nothing will.
Here’s a selection of reactions to the starting lineup:
https://twitter.com/curt_curtdavies/status/1105541892853432321
https://twitter.com/Ross1872_/status/1105540715851980801
https://twitter.com/Lee_H21/status/1105541117565718528
https://twitter.com/BradleyGuestx/status/1105540684512182277
https://twitter.com/mitchellm1872/status/1105542004497367040
https://twitter.com/RyanRossiWATP/status/1105540637049479170
