Scott Brown has revealed his mental warfare mentality when playing for Celtic against Rangers as he singled out duels against Alfredo Morelos and El-Hadji Diouf.

The former Celtic captain - now Fleetwood manager - never backed down from a fiery confrontation on the big occasion and has reflected on his heated exchanges with the Rangers striking pair.

Brown famously celebrated in front of Diouf at Ibrox after scoring in a derby clash at Ibrox back in 2011. It's a fond memory for Celtic supporters, and one Brown insists he'll never forget - even if he admitted he's still bitter over his yellow card.

“It was more of a shock to the Celtic fans that I scored with my left foot," joked Brown on the Off The Record podcast. "They couldn’t believe it either!

“I’ve managed to whip it in past Greegsy, into the far away corner. It’s not often my left foot works but it did that day. Then that guy was just standing in front of me at the right time so it couldn’t have worked any better!

“But I’m still devastated I was booked for it. I’ve not ran, I’ve not taken my top off. I just stood and put my arms up and I got a yellow! That’s bad refereeing that by the way!”

READ MORE: Ange Postecoglou removing stress and strain from Celtic transfers

Brown was similarly embroiled in fierce battles with Morelos in more recent seasons at Celtic - and the tough-tackling midfielder insists he won his battles against the Colombian striker too.

However, the former Scotland international admitted the duo tried to "give it back" as much as Brown would attempt to wind them up into a red card or poor performance.

On his contests with Morelos, Brown added: “To be fair I won that one as well. No, I like to try to pick and choose my battles quite well.

“Morelos is a good player and so was Diouf. But I would always try to get in their head and let them see that I’m a decent player.

“You flick a switch and either get them a red card or control the game. That was my mentality - to try to get in their head early doors.

“Did it work? Now and then, yeah. But to be fair they tried to give it back as well. You don’t mind that. You want to see that kind of rivalry on the park and especially in a Rangers-Celtic game. You want to see somebody getting the better of others.

“I always wanted to get the better of him. I’d always try to wind him up, try to get on the ball and pull him in a little bit, pull him out of position. That’s what my game was.

"It was to try to slowly get into people but also at the same time it was to dictate play. To win the ball back and give it to the ten other better players on the park!”