Rangers v Celtic: Barisic the Old Firm card king

• Barisic carded in 8 of 16 Old Firm starts

• Over 2.5 goals in 7 of last 8 derbies

• Bet Builder double pays around 10/3

Rangers v Celtic
Sunday 30 April, 13:30
Live on Viaplay Sports 1

April isn't over but Sunday brings the fourth Old Firm derby of 2023 - and there's another to come next month.

This one - a Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden Park - is of huge significance to both teams' season.

For Rangers, is it the last-chance saloon in terms of silverware, while for Celtic a victory here would leave them tantalisingly close to a domestic Treble - they've already won the League Cup, look to have the Premiership title wrapped up and would have Inverness to face in the final of this competition.

Of course, Rangers would love to stop them and a feisty game looks highly likely.

The card stats surrounding this game show that over 3.5 cards has landed in 22 of the last 25 derbies, while referee Willie Collum has hit that mark in all nine Old Firm matches he's taken charge of.

Collum has also shown a red card in three of his last seven Rangers v Celtic games, while overall there has been one in six of the last 19 derbies.

That's worth considering here but, as I've written in the past in this column, the option that often offers the best value in this fixture is Borna Barisic to be carded.

Barisic's impressive stats

Punters often look to the hot-headed Alfredo Morelos, particularly in this derby, but he's calmed down quite a bit in recent times and his derby record of eight cards in 18 starts isn't actually as go as Barisic's.

The Croatian left-back has received a card in eight of his 16 Old Firm starts - unsurprisingly his most against a single opponent - yet he's 15/8 for a card; Morelos 5/6.

And with Jota back in the Celtic squad after injury, Barisic looks set for a tough afternoon. Even if the Portuguese winger is only deemed fit enough for the bench, Barisic would likely be up against Montenegrin Saed Haksabanovic, adding a Balkan rivalry element to proceedings.

Barisic makes the coupon and I'm going to double him up with over 2.5 goals.

These two have more over 2.5 goals games than any other team in Britain - no-one else manages over 70% on this metric.

While that's undoubtedly down to the relative quality of some opponents, it has carried over into recent Old Firm games with seven of the last eight seeing at least three goals scored.

Add Barisic to be carded to over 2.5 goals and we've got ourselves a decent-looking 10/3 Bet Builder.

Premier League: Check out our tipsheet for Sunday's games!