Walter Smith chose the aftermath of the Old Firm game at Ibrox to vehemently deny any wrongdoing on his part or that of Rangers over the club’s controversial call-offs from the Scotland squad that faced Croatia last Wednesday night.

It was Smith’s first opportunity to answer back to allegations, both in the media and elsewhere, that Rangers had adopted an arrogant approach towards George Burley and the SFA.

Coincidentally, all four Rangers players who withdrew from Burley’s squad – Allan McGregor, Barry Ferguson, Christian Dailly and Lee McCulloch – lined up from the start in the 1-0 win over Celtic.

“People can think whatever they like,” Smith said. “The fact is, the boys reported for the game. At the present moment it should be obvious to everyone that Barry Ferguson has hardly been training for the last six or eight weeks. Christian Dailly has a broken bone in his toe and has to take pain-killers on a regular basis.

“So the boys’ injuries were legitimate. And we had other players away as well last midweek. Sasa Papac missed the Celtic game because he came back with a virus. Steven Davis played for Northern Ireland the other night. So if our boys had been fit, they’d have been there.”

Smith did, however, hint that Rangers might have been more committed to the Scotland game against Croatia had it been a European or World Cup qualifier, rather than a friendly.

“When I was the Scotland manager I didn’t like friendlies – I was on record as saying that and I cut them all back,” Smith said. “I also left out all the players that would be involved in European qualifiers in August because I didn’t feel it would be beneficial to their clubs. They appreciated that.

“Rangers will not withdraw any player from a competitive game. But, if players go to a Scotland set-up, and they are shown to be injured, then it is only right, for a friendly game, that George Burley sends them back.

“That’s what happened the other night. There was nothing untoward about it. If a Rangers player misses any other games – and certainly if it’s a World Cup match – then it is because he is injured, and not for any other reason. There has been a lot of exaggeration about it all.”

Smith savoured his team’s display against Celtic, and will have both Papac and Brahim Hemdani available again to face Sporting Lisbon in the Uefa Cup quarter-final, first-leg tie at Ibrox.

“My players have faced a lot of games and their approach and attitude have been excellent this season,” Smith said. “Celtic remain the yardstick for us, and we’ve still got two tough matches to face at Parkhead, as well as elsewhere, but I have to be satisfied with what we have done so far. Having said that, we will make changes against Sporting, and that will be a completely different game.”

Dailly, who has forced himself into the Rangers team since signing in January, played the entire 90 minutes, despite having a broken toe. After 17 years in professional football, Dailly also relished his first Old Firm experience. “I had an X-ray last week and my toe was broken,” he said. “I wasn’t sure if I would play. I actually tried to jog on Tuesday but I couldn’t. I’m totally loaded up, I’m peeing brown stuff. I’m on the strongest stuff the doc can find and I’m still sore.

“But it was a tremendous experience with the noise. I said to the boys in there that when you go out at first it’s like you have earphones on – the noise is so close. You can’t hear a thing on the pitch. You’re not going to get much better than that – it was an all round good day for us.

“We knew that if we didn’t win we were still in a decent enough position. It all worked out really well. We kept that consistency that we’ve had going and we’ve come out with a win. It’s a good situation for us.”

Gordon Strachan, the Celtic manager, tried to remain positive, despite seeing the title now slipping from his team’s grasp. The 1-0 loss also left him staring at four successive defeats to Rangers. “It’s a horrible position to be in – we have to hope that somebody else does something for us [in the title race],” Strachan said.

“But of these four games, Rangers have been the better team in two of them, while in two others, including this game, it has been a case of us not taking our chances.”