Rangers defender Borna Barisic has admitted that Celtic are “running away” from his side.
Celtic have come back from the winter break and managed an incredible run of 11 successive domestic wins. Eight of those have come in the Premiership, with the Hoops picking up a maximum of 24 points from 24. It’s a run that also eclipses last season’s seven-match winning streak in the Premiership post-winter.
Meanwhile, Rangers have been a disaster. The title-pretenders have dropped an incredible 10 points to Hearts, Aberdeen, Kilmarnock, and St Johnstone respectively. They also got knocked out of the Scottish Cup to Daniel Stendel’s Jambos at the weekend.
Barisic has been talking about the title-race with Sportske Jutarnji, and whilst admitting we are darting away at the top, he provided a title-warning that makes your eyes roll.
“Celtic took maximum points so they’re now running away from us with 12 points but we have a game in hand and still have to play them (twice). We haven’t given up on it yet, but it will be difficult.
“Scottish clubs, as well as our manager, are known for never surrendering and we’ll do our best to get back into the title fight. We’ve had a long and difficult road, we’ve played about 40 matches and it’s only March. That could be one of the reasons for the drop in the last few games.
“Who knows, maybe getting past Braga will be a turning point that brings new victories and catching up with Celtic. We showed our strength against them head-to-head, it’s matches against other teams that have cost us. We’re not looking for excuses though because physically and mentally we’re prepared really well.”
Barisic’s hopes of challenging Celtic are baseless
Barisic’s admission that the league title will be a difficult ask now for Rangers is telling. It shows that he knows fine well the massive challenge his team has to catch the runaway league leaders and eight-in-a-row champions.
However, he says that he isn’t looking for excuses after trying to suggest that Rangers have played 40-odd games by March. Well Borna, Celtic have played 51 and still look as determined and refreshed as ever. That there is a key difference between the sides. You won’t find one Celtic player suggest that the amount of games is a struggle for them.
Also, good luck with Braga being a turning point. Didn’t Rangers get knocked out of the Scottish Cup by Hearts on Saturday or did I only imagine that? If there was to be some sort of miracle turnaround, surely it would’ve kicked off there.
Barisic is also forgetting one key game when he says that it’s results against the other teams that have cost Rangers. Celtic comfortably won 2-0 at Ibrox back in September to help set a tone for much of the season. Rangers have played catch-up for the most part, and that all came about thanks to that result.
All of this is built on nothing but hope and bravado. The whole “no surrender” nonsense that Barisic pushes is pretty embarrassing. They’ve surrendered 10 points and their continued participation in the Scottish Cup.
Come the end of the season, they may just surrender yet another three trophies to Celtic.
What do you make of Barisic’s comments? Is he right in saying that there could still be a big push from Rangers to come? Give us your title verdict in the discussion forum below.
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