Calum Butcher welcomes Rangers fight with Morelos or Colak as Motherwell star reveals thinking behind ’66’ squad number

Steelman Calum Butcher admits the physical battle has always got his blood pumping on the football pitch. And they don’t come much more bruising than an afternoon trying to keep Alfredo Morelos quiet.

The hard-tackling Motherwell star helped put the shackles on Morelos and Rangers twice last season as his only two appearances against the Ibrox side for Dundee United ended in a 1-0 win and a 1-1 draw. And he knows bodies will need to be put on the line this afternoon if his new club are to stretch their four-game unbeaten run under Stuart Kettlewell when Gers arrive at Fir Park.

Well warrior Butcher is relishing his new role in the centre of the Steelmen’s defence since arriving last month from Burton Albion. After years chasing midfielders he’s now charged with stopping the best strikers in the league. And whether Morelos or Antonio Colak starts, Butcher knows this afternoon is about to hit a new level of tough.

Butcher said: “I really enjoy it in defence and see myself playing there for the next few years hopefully. It probably helps me having played midfield and then going back. You see things differently. In midfield, everything can pass you by. At the back, you can read things a bit better.

“It has been part of my game my whole career, that physical side of it. I think back there you probably get a bit more of a physical battle if you are playing against different kinds of strikers. It’s a side of the game that I enjoy and in Scottish football is a massive part of the game.

“Has Morelos left his mark on me before? Possibly. With VAR I don’t know if he will get away with it now. Of course you want to play against the best players in the league and see how well you can do against them.

“I think Morelos and Colak are both different players, they play in different ways, but they have both got really strong attributes. They are massive for Rangers and how they want to play but they have got players all over the pitch that can hurt you.

“It’s not just those two, there is a lot of quality all over the pitch. It is about us sticking to our game plan and how we want to set up and hopefully we can go and get a result.

“We had good results (with United) last year. The first home game was the first time they had lost in a lot of games under Gerrard. There were a lot of positives to take from that at the time.

“You have to frustrate them in a different way, you have to be physical, you have to give them something different to think about. There are loads of things you need to do against Rangers. And ultimately they have to be off it as well because if they do turn it on they are a top, top team. It is about us trying to nullify that as much as possible through the game.

“We’re going into the game with confidence after the run that we have been on. We want to get far away from the pack at the bottom as quickly as we can. We’ve got a foot in that but we know it is not finished and to go and get a result at the weekend would be massive for confidence but also for points.”

It’s not just Butcher’s transformation as a defender that’s caught the eye since his move to Motherwell. The number 66 that adorns his back has also been the subject of debate.

But the Englishman insists it was his son Archie’s choice and has absolutely nothing to do with a certain Three Lions event 57 years ago. He explained: “It was my little boy actually. I was six at Burton and I said ‘what number do you want daddy to have?’ “He said ‘you can’t have six, so can you have 66?’. It is nothing to do with England! A few of the boys had a pop and said ‘are you sure?’ but I promise it was my little boy!”

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