Rivals' dressing room "very disappointed" as Celtic get the result they need

By David Walton

May 1, 2022

Rangers defender Borna Barisic has stated that the Ibrox dressing room has been left “very disappointed” after failing to beat Celtic.

The Ibrox club needed a victory in order to keep the title race alive. However, despite throwing everything they had at the Hoops, it still wasn’t enough. Ange Postecoglou’s men took the point they needed to remain 6 points clear at the top of the Premiership.

There was an element of frustration attached for the Hoops after they failed to hold onto their 1-goal advantage. But despite that, it would take a ludicrous collapse for us not to secure the championship at this stage.

And Barisic has told his own club’s in-house media that the Rangers dressing room has been left gutted with how today panned out.

“I think we played much better, created a couple of very good chances that we didn’t score. Unfortunately in the first half we conceded that goal. In the end, it was 1-1 and yes we are very disappointed.

“We needed that 3 points you know? That was a chance to connect with them in the league table. As I said we didn’t do that. Everyone is disappointed. We gave everything in the second half but in the end, 1-1, it’s not enough. It is what it is.”

Rangers left deflated as Celtic again stop them in their tracks

Rangers needed to win. It’s as simple as that. That’s what was on their minds before the game and it’s exactly what will be on their minds heading back to Govan. Nothing less than 3 points was going to give them any hope. Instead, they failed their task and are instead left praying for the most ludicrous of collapses.

Many will be disappointed with how Celtic struggled to pile the pressure on in the final 15-20 minutes. We had our moments on the counter-attack, but we didn’t finish the stronger of the sides. However, given the fact this absolutely their last throw of the dice, you had to expect that kind of reaction from them.

Rangers aren’t the side of 2015-2018. They’ll create chances and games against them will continue to pose challenges. But it says a lot about Celtic’s progress that we’ve won both home and away against them this season. We also led in the last 2 and have generally been much more competitive in the fixture this year.

The reality is that we’ve left the Rangers dressing room having failed in their one goal today – victory. At worst, Celtic were happy to take the point and move on. We can focus on Hearts next week knowing we’re still 6 points clear. Rangers, meanwhile, have their destiny in our hands.

When it comes to this particular fixture, we’ll get back to it next season and hopefully improve our performances against them even further. But we’ve done the hard stuff when it comes to facing Rangers this season. We’ve won 2 of 4 league fixtures having only lost once. We’ve bettered them on head-to-heads and it’s showing in the title race.

So fingers crossed we can now see this through.

In other news, Celtic boss explains why he keeps playing Reo Hatate despite fatigue issues