Burch: Gers’ only plan will be to avoid a doing
I won’t be back in Nik of time
NIKO KRANJCAR has dashed Rangers’ hopes of returning to action before the end of the season.
The Croat international has written off talk of a quick comeback after caretaker boss Graeme Murty revealed last week he has resumed light training.
The 32-year-old has been out since October when he ruptured his cruciate knee ligament – and despite his recent return to the training pitch Kranjcar insists he still has a long road ahead.
Kranjcar – speaking in his homeland in his new role as an ambassador for this summer’s European Under17s Championship – said: “I will be ready for next season. I was honoured to be given a chance to play for such a big club as Rangers.
“It took me a while to adjust but I was satisfied with my performances, especially just before I suffered my injury.
“My next goal is to get MARK BURCHILL reckons Rangers’ No.1 priority going into Sunday’s showdown will be to avoid being humiliated.
The former Scotland striker played for Celtic the last time they hit Gers for six, crushing them 6-2 in a Premiership rout at Parkhead in August, 2000.
Now Burchill believes the Ibrox side will be desperate to make sure they are not on the receiving end of another hammering.
The 36-year-old said: “Rangers and whoever is in charge will be going into it trying to keep the score down because they know Celtic are on fire with so much pace and power. If Rangers are being clever they will probably look at what St Mirren did against Celtic when they played fantastically well.
“They need to try to stop Celtic and try to contain them. But it’s going to be difficult because Celtic have so many good players.
“Players such as Moussa Dembele , Patrick Roberts, Scott Sinclair and James Forrest are almost unstoppable at times.”