The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Tannadice draw best day of life –Gersstar
Rangers defender Connor Goldson says the final whistle at Tannadice kicked off the best day of his football life.
The big stopper joined his Gers team-mates at the club’s Auchenhowie training base to watch as rivals Celtic took on Dundee United looking for a win that would have forced the title race onto next week’s Parkhead clash.
But when the Hoops could only draw against Micky Mellon’s team, that was the signal for wild celebrations as Steven Gerrard’s Light Blues were crowned champions for the 55th time.
“It was amazing,” said the former Brighton centreback as he reflected on the moment he knew his team had finally ended the club’s 10-year wait for silverware. “I still don’t think it has sunk in properly what we have actually achieved.
“It is a weird one. When I have won things in the past, you are going on holiday and going away with your family.
“We are only in March and there is a lot of the season still to play. It is a weird one but the focus has got straight back on football and straight back on this huge Europa League tie that we have got ahead of us tomorrow against Slavia Prague.
“At the same time, I have still got goosebumps thinking about it. It was amazing and probably the best day of my career.
“Was this part of the vision the gaffer sold to me when I signed back in 2018? Yeah, it was. Did I think it would be three years later? Probably not.
“I didn’t realise how far behind Rangers were until I came up here and actually played that first season. You do have doubts.
“But, at the same time, we have worked our socks off and the recruitment has been brilliant. You look at the club I am in today, and it is 100 times better than the club that I joined.
“That is not just the playing squad, it is around the place and what has been done in the canteen, what has been done at the training ground, what has been done at Ibrox.
“The whole place has improved and that is credit to every single staff member that works here to the board and the chairman to put in what it takes to make this club successful.”
Gerrard has now set his team the target of reaching the last eight of the Europa League, but to do that they must overcome Jindrich Trpisovsky’s Slavia.
The Czech outfit have yet to lose a domestic league match this season, but the feat that really made the Gers manager sit up and take notice was their 2-0 win over Leicester at the King Power last month.
It was that result which set up their showdown with Rangers and Gerrard knows his side cannot afford a hangover from their title celebrations.
He said: “I think Slavia’s performance over both legs against Leicester was extremely strong.
“Leicester are very good team with a good coach who, so far, have had a very good season. So instantly it made you well aware of the size of the challenge we’re going to face.
“This is a team who is going extremely well domestically. We have major respect for the opposition, for the players, for the coach.
“We will tell the players that they need to be ready and they need to be at their very best to complete this challenge because Slavia are a very good team.
“I want our players to go into the next two games with confidence and belief.
“But also with respect because this challenge is big. Anyone you face in the last 16 of a major tournament in Europe is going to be difficult.
“But I still have belief that if we can find two really strong performances it gives us a good chance of getting through.”
Striker Kemar Roofe returns to the squad, but Gerrard has chosen to wrap midfielder Ryan Jack in cotton wool as he recovers from a calf injury.
● Ole Gunnar Solskjaer expects Marcus Rashford and Edinson Cavani to miss Manchester United’s Europa League last-16 first leg against AC Milan.
An ankle injury saw Rashford replaced towards the end of Sunday’s 2-0 win against Manchester City – a match veteran Cavani missed having only returned from a muscle injury at Crystal Palace last Wednesday.
● Arsenal could have Emile Smith Rowe available for their first leg against Olympiacos while Tottenham will be without Giovani lo Celso when they host Dinamo Zagreb.