Celtic's Giorgos Giakoumakis has cutthroat instincts to cement place in derby folklore just like I did - John Hartson

The ex-Celtic striker netted eight times against the Light Blues in derbies during his five years with the club. Two of them also happened to be winners.

Now the Welshman is backing Celtic striker Giorgos Giakoumakis to walk the walk at Ibrox on Sunday after talking the talk and help edge Ange Postecoglou's side move one step closer to the coveted Scottish Premiership title.

Back in February the Greek, fresh from scoring a hat-trick in a 3-2 league win over Dundee, revealed that he felt Celtic would win the league and that they were a better side than Rangers in every department.

"I think we will win the championship," Giakoumakis said at the time. "It’s something we really want for us, the club and the fans. The squad is very good – I think it’s the best in the league. I think we are better in every single department."

The 27-year-old has bagged 12 goals this season - 11 since January - and has drawn comparisons to, well, Hartson himself. And the Welshman is a huge fan of that.

He readily admits that, in terms of similarities, he would probably have run his mouth off and landed himself in hot water with some of his own comments back in the day. However, Hartson will leave it to others to judge how they measure up as Celtic strikers on their own merit.

Giakoumakis celebrates his winner against Dundee

"When Giakoumakis made his comments about winning the title for Celtic and being better than Rangers in every department, my immediate thought was that it was the kind of thing I would have said and landed myself in a bit of bother!" he said.

"But he is a confident player. He has two hat-tricks - his treble against Dundee was magnificent. His last-gasp header which won that game was excellent. That was a fantastic goal as he got himself in there where the boots were flying.

"He has a bit of everything. I am a big fan of Giakoumakis and I am very honoured with that comparison. Initially, when he came to the club, he had to settle and he had injuries and illness to contend with. The Celtic fans thought 'he's big, he's strong, but can he run, can he link, can he finish, can he get goals?' His record since January is phenomenal.

"All of his goals so far have been one-touch finishes. That statistic is incredible and that tells you that he is quite instinctive. He is a bit like all good strikers whereby they don't want a lot of time to think about things. Some strikers can take a touch, keep their composure and pick their corner and score.

"I'd like to think that I was similar to Giakoumakis in the sense that I was instinctive and if it comes into the box I just reacted. I think we are both that type of centre forward. I also think Giakoumakis is strong and he can rough up defenders again which is not too dissimilar to the role that I performed for Celtic.

"He can be that focal point for Celtic and he offers something totally different to somebody like Kyogo. I love watching the big man up front. I have been really impressed with him so far."

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The 51-times capped Wales international is well aware that, come this weekend, Giakoumakis could well secure his place in the hearts and minds of the Celtic supporters with another sterling performance.

If he manages to score a goal - or two - and it helps contributes to a Celtic win then all the better. Hartson, of course, knows the feeling of scoring a winner at Ibrox.

He notched what proved to be the decisive goal in a 2-1 league win for Celtic in 2003 and was also robbed of a winning goal when his effort was credited as an own goal for Zurab Khizanishvili in a 1-0 top-flight success in October that same year.

It is in such fixtures that heroes are made and club legends are born, as Hartson said: "If Giakoumakis can score at Ibrox and Celtic win the match then he will certainly cement his reputation with the fans. This game is more for the fans than anybody because of what it means to the supporters all around the world.

"I always knew that if we could win the derbies and I could also get on the scoresheet - and in my case, it turned out to be the winner a couple of times - then you had paid some dues back to the fans.

"I am a Celtic fan now and I want Giakoumakis to score against Rangers and experience that same feeling as I did. There is nothing quite like it."

Hartson is convinced that Giakoumakis will be desperate to lead the line for Celtic and that he will be brimming with confidence ahead of Sunday's high-noon clash in Govan. He also reckons the Greek will not be fazed by the white-hot atmosphere of Ibrox despite the visitors only receiving 700 tickets.

Hartson celebrates his winner against Rangers in March 2003

Hartson: "Nothing should faze Giakoumakis for the match at Ibrox. As a centre forward, you can hold things up, you can run in behind, you can assist but it is goals that ultimately bring that confidence and a swagger. If you start chipping in with goals then that is ultimately what people judge you on.

"That's what centre forwards do and that's what they were born for. That's what I was born for. Giakoumakis is now starting to rattle in goals for fun lately so that will give him enormous confidence going into this game against Rangers at Ibrox. 

"He did everything other than the score in the last derby. He was really unlucky not to get on the scoresheet as Allan McGregor produced a couple of outstanding saves that night. It is something he will definitely want to remedy and put right at Ibrox on Sunday."

The 46-year-old insists he can now see why Celtic boss Postecoglou forked out £2.5million for last season's Eredivisie top scorer's services. Giakoumakis netted 26 times for VVV Venlo, even though they were eventually relegated.

Hartson reckons that, with his scoring style, the Greek would have plundered an even bigger barrowload and ran riot for the likes of Ajax, Feyenoord or PSV.

"Giakoumakis scored goals in the Eredivisie last season and that is no mean feat," Hartson said. "VVV Venlo got relegated yet he was still the division's top goalscorer. That tells you all you need to know about him.

"Can you imagine how many goals Giakoumakis would have scored if he had played for Ajax, Feyenoord or PSV? To score goals a lot of goals for a Dutch team that were relegated says a lot about him. That is also why Ange Posecoglou shelled out the money for him."