Rangers defender Gasparotto has joined Morton on loan from the Ibrox outfit until January and looks set to start Friday night’s hotly-anticipated TV clash with St Mirren.

The 20-year-old played in the 2015 Scottish Youth Cup final against Celtic, but the Hampden showpiece was staged behind closed doors due to disorder at previous fixtures.

Gasparotto understood the decision but was still disappointed to miss out on the chance to play in front of a passionate crowd made up of two sets of partisan supporters. However, after speaking to his Ton team-mates he knows that is exactly what to expect when the Greenock men host their Paisley foes this Friday — and he can’t wait.

Speaking exclusively to the Tele, Gasparotto said: “Coming in, I didn’t really know much about the Renfrewshire derby, but I’ve talked to a few guys in the changing room and they’ve told me about it.

“They’ve told me it’s a big occasion, a big game, so I’m really looking forward to actually playing in it.

“It’s on TV and there will be a great atmosphere.

“I played in an Old Firm game, but to be fair it was a closed-doors game so the atmosphere wasn’t really that great.

“Was I disappointed that it was closed-doors? Yeah, a wee bit. I understand it though; it’s a safety issue.

“But it would have been nice to play in the youth cup final in front of 10,000 fans or so.

“Obviously Friday will be a better atmosphere, I’m assuming. I know the fans will be great, so I’m really looking forward to it and just can’t wait until Friday night now.

“It will be another tough game but we’ll be looking for a strong performance and for us to hopefully get our first win of the season.” Gasparotto made his Ton bow away to Hibs on Saturday and revealed he overcame some pre-match jitters to impress at Easter Road He explained: “To be honest, I was a bit nervous going in. It was my first game, and away at Hibs and you don’t get much bigger than that.

“But once I made my first couple of passes I settled down a bit and then I thought I had a solid game for my first match. I won my headers, I defended well, had good positioning, won my tackles … so I’m looking to build on that on Friday. I’m just trying to learn and prove I can play at this level.”