Northern Ireland fans making pilgrimage to Hampden and Wembley for 'derby day' finals

Hundreds of fans from Northern Ireland are making a pilgrimage to either Hampden Park, where Rangers face Celtic, or Wembley for the Manchester City showdown with rivals United.

With Rangers having failed to beat Celtic in their four previous encounters this season, Faith Seaton from Belfast is travelling more in hope than expectation.

"There are nine of us going over in a nine-seater people carrier. It’s mostly family. My nephew, who is disabled, is a massive Rangers fan and I’m taking him over,” she said.

"I would go over to Ibrox quite regularly as my nephew is a season ticket holder.”

Commenting on the prospect of Rangers upsetting the odds and getting one over on their oldest rivals, Faith said it would be a difficult enough task, even without her team’s lengthy casualty list.

"It’s very hard to tell how it will go [on Saturday] due to the injuries. We are down to the bare bones. So I will be very surprised if we win. However much my heart is telling me we will win, my head is telling me we won’t.”

Celtic have won three of the four derbies this season with the other match a draw.

Unusually, Rangers have not led at any point in the fixture this season, and have gone two goals down in the last three games.

Faith added: “The manager did well to get us back into a title fight, but when it came to the crunch, they bottled it.”Kick off will be at 3pm at Glasgow’s Hampden Park.

Rangers manager Philippe Clement said the occasion is "always more than just a trophy between these two clubs in this country,” while Celtic’s Brendan Rodgers says his team are "in good condition" having won the league "in a really good way".

In England, the two Manchester sides will meet at Wembley at 3pm in a repeat of last year’s FA Cup final – which City won 2-1 as part of a historic treble-winning season.

A victory for the Sky Blues would complete a third league title and FA Cup double – something only previously achieved by Arsenal (in 1970-71, 1997-98 and 2001-02), and Manchester United (1993-94, 1995-96 and 1998-99).

Under the guidance of manager Pep Guardiola, City won a league and cup double in 2018-19 and 2022-23, and on Saturday could become the first team ever to do so in consecutive seasons.Lifelong Man City fan Colin Wilson from Cookstown is a season ticket holder at the Etihad and was never going to miss the cup final.

He said the thrill of the silverware chase “never wears off,” despite City’s runaway success in recent years.

"I never take it for granted, because I’ve been there through the ‘bad years’ too. My first game was 1975,” he said.

"I wasn’t there last year as I was in Canada on holiday, but I’m certainly going to make the most of it this year.”

Colin is one of 12 members of the Cookstown Manchester City Supporters Club making their way to London between Friday night and Saturday morning.

"We have an early flight over on Saturday morning, and spend a few hours in London, and then head to the ground about half-twelve or one o’clock to soak up the atmosphere and get a bite to eat and a few drinks”.