South African defender Makhanya is preparing for his first Old Firm appearance as Derek McInnes hosts Celtic in a decisive Premier Sports Cup quarter-final on Sunday.
The 22-year-old arrives at the weekend fixture following a narrow 1-0 Premiership victory over St Mirren on Wednesday evening.
A growing SPFL fixtures backlog adds heightened significance to this domestic cup tie.
Defensive Partnership Delivers Stability
The summer arrival from Major League Soccer has quickly adapted to Scottish football.
Speaking to the official Rangers website, the centre-back praised his defensive colleagues.
“I feel like defensively there is a very good partnership between me and Fernandez, James [Penrice] from the left and obviously Dujon [Sterling],” he said.
This central unit has secured four consecutive wins while conceding only one goal across all competitions.
McInnes will rely on that rearguard against a rested visiting attack following calculated Celtic squad rotation in midweek.
Early Career Challenges Overcome
The Bafana Bafana international almost abandoned his professional aspirations before breaking through at Stellenbosch.
He told Rangers Review about his early struggles prior to reaching Europe.
“I went away from home for the first time and tried it, but things did not go well,” he explained.
Following family encouragement, he persisted and eventually earned his move to Ibrox.
Now established in Glasgow, the defender is fully focused on advancing past Celtic this weekend.
