Aberdeen boss Jim Goodwin labels Anthony Stewart's Rangers comments 'regrettable' and pinpoints Beale change

“Anthony hasn’t meant any disrespect with the answer he’s given," Goodwin said. “It’s regrettable that he got drawn into that type of conversation and I can’t see that happening again in the future. Anthony will learn from it and the other players will learn from that type of comment as well. In future I think he’ll do better to avoid it.

"I’ll say what I wish my captain had said – they are both very good strikers, both proven at this level. But we are not going to fear the opposition on Sunday, that’s the biggest thing.”

Goodwin will come up against Michael Beale for the second time since the latter replaced Giovanni van Bronckhorst as Rangers boss. The first meeting was at Pittodrie back in December, with Rangers scoring two goals in stoppage time to inflict a 3-2 defeat on the Dons. The different styles of play between the two have already been noted by the Aberdeen manager, who has promised to “respect” his opponents while putting the sole focus on hurting them in the final third.

“Van Bronckhorst had the wide men on the touchline really high and wide," he said. “Whereas Michael Beale likes to bring in those wide players a little bit narrower and try to play through the middle areas of the pitch. There are different things that you need to adapt to.

“We will give them all the respect they deserve in terms of how we prepare for the game. We have tried to focus a lot on how we will cause Rangers problems and not too much on trying to worry about what Rangers can do to us.”