No Euro hangover from Bhoys, insists Ajer
KRISTOFFER Ajer insists Celtic will be “100 per cent” ready for Aberdeen tomorrow following their Europa League exit.
The Bhoys had travelled to St Petersburg with optimism following last week’s 1-0 first-leg win at Parkhead, where Roberto Mancini’s Zenit side had looked rusty playing their first competitive game in two months due to their winter break.
However, they soon had the tie back in their own hands on home soil on Thursday when defender Branislav Ivanovic put Zenit in front in the eighth minute with a header from a corner.
Daler Kuzyaev fired in a longrange drive in the 27th minute and striker Aleksandr Kokorin sealed a 3-1 aggregate triumph just after the hour mark.
With European football over for another season, Brendan Rodgers’ Ladbrokes Premiership leaders return to domestic chores with a trip to Pittodrie, and Ajer is anticipating a quick and positive turnaround.
“Now our aim is Aberdeen,” the 19-year-old Norwegian defender said. “We will recover well and be ready for that game, 100 per cent. Aberdeen have been really good the whole season so it will be a tough game away on Sunday so we need to recover and be 100 per cent ready.”
Ajer admits it was another European lesson for him and his team-mates in St Petersburg, where they had harboured hopes of progression to the last-16.
He said: “Of course we travelled with the aim of going through and we felt during this game we could have scored. So it is disappointing to concede three but it is a learning experience.
“It is good to learn at this level but we want to perform better. We can learn a lot from this game. We didn’t start out well and they scored early.
“They put up a really good set-piece and blocked off me and Jozo (Simunovic) and he (Ivanovic) was free. It was difficult but we should do better.” RANGERS boss Graeme Murty has told his players to “aim high” as they bid to cut the gap at the top of the Ladbrokes Premiership to six points.
The Light Blues moved second with a 5-3 victory at Hamilton on Sunday, sparking debate over whether Scotland has a title race on its hands.
Rangers have only added to back-to-back league wins once this season but the visit of Hearts on Saturday offers a chance to improve on that statistic following wins over Partick and Accies.
And with leaders Celtic facing third-placed Aberdeen on Sun- day, Rangers know victory would improve their position one way or another.
Murty said: “We will finish where we deserve to finish at the end of the season, we will be the team we want to be, or closer to the team we want to be, by the end of the season.
“If we can carry on getting positive results, who knows what might happen?
“I said to the players just to aim high. Don’t worry about anything else, just aim high and be as competitive as we can all the way through the season and have a positive end to the season.”
Victory over Craig Levein’s side is far from a certainty, especially as Rangers have lost two of their last four home games.
Murty said: “I expect it to be tighter than last weekend, I don’t expect there to be eight goals, and I expect it to be a real challenge.
“But we are confident that the players we have, and the options we have, can cause any team in this league problems. The way we move the ball and the individuals within that structure can cause anyone problems.
“It’s down to us making sure we make good decisions at the right time. But Craig has changed Hearts, he has made them much harder to score against, and it’s down to us to accept that challenge of trying to break them down.”