As a former Barcelona player, Marc Crosas is well-placed to judge the intensity of domestic rivalries and scale of reaction when one-upmanship goes too far.

The Celtic midfield player raised a smile when Real Madrid’s midweek elimination from the Champions League was mentioned to him yesterday, qualifying his noticeable delight with: “I am speaking as a Lyons supporter.”

Crosas did at least have a basis for his quip, having spent a loan spell at Madrid’s French conquerors earlier in his career. The 22-year-old is now immersed in the unrelenting battle for supremacy between the Old Firm even if, by his own admission, there is a softer side to that encountered during his formative years in Catalonia.

“I was talking to my team-mates about this after we lost at Ibrox last month,” Crosas said. “We were going back to Celtic Park in the bus after the game, some Celtic fans were clapping us. I was saying that if we were in Spain, they would maybe be throwing stones at us, not clapping us.

“That showed the passion, how the people love football here and as a player you really appreciate that. It is an extra motivation for the players.

“It makes me want to give the supporters something back. I don’t appreciate that [their reaction] just as a footballer. As a person, when you see that people love Celtic in that way, I think that has to be an extra motivation for the players and for everybody.”

Crosas has featured only fleetingly under Tony Mowbray this season, but watching from the sidelines has perhaps sharpened his powers of perception. The Spaniard was blunt about the size of the task facing Celtic against Kilmarnock today, where a win in an Active Nation Scottish Cup quarter-final tie will keep alive dreams of returning at least one trophy from a underperforming campaign.

“I think the most important thing is that we are going to play for the only title that is in our own hands right now,” Crosas said of the cup. “Everyone knows what our position is in the league so we have to do our best and make sure we get to Hampden.

“We know Kilmarnock will make it difficult for us, we know how they play at home, we lost there last month so we will be ready for it and, hopefully, we can go through.

“As a Celtic player, you are under pressure to win every game and you have to be ready for that. When you win a cup it is good but as a Celtic player you have to win the league.”

Clydesdale Bank Premier League success is almost certainly beyond Crosas and his team-mates but the playmaker offered a much-needed perspective when it was put to him that external forces may be at the root of Celtic’s troubles. Issues over poor playing surfaces, namely at Falkirk and Motherwell, have created negative headlines for Scotland’s top flight while concerns about refereeing performances have also emanated, not least from Celtic Park.

“We keep talking about pitches and referees but when you are a professional player you need to be ready for that, there are no excuses,” Crosas said. “I am sure that the people at Falkirk and Motherwell are working to make the pitches better so we are not going to blame them for that.”

And as for hubris surrounding match officials? “It is the same in Spain, maybe worse. It has always been like that, it is always going to happen,” he said.

“The fans can talk about it, the press can talk about it but I haven’t heard players talking about it in Spain or here. Of course, if you ask us we need to say something and sometimes you have some strange decisions against you or for you, penalties or whatever, but you need to be ready for that. Sometimes referees give you things, sometimes they take things away.”