Van Bronckhorst full of praise for his players’ efforts despite title blow
Rangers manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst is resigned to losing the Premiership title to Celtic but insists he couldn’t fault his players’ efforts to rekindle their hopes by winning yesterday’s final Old Firm showdown of the season.
The 1-1 draw at Celtic Park leaves Rangers still trailing their great rivals by six points at the top of the table with just three rounds of fixtures remaining.
Celtic’s vastly superior goal difference effectively means just one more win will secure the crown for Ange Postecoglou’s side.
But van Bronckhorst was gratified by his team’s performance as they responded to falling behind to a Jota goal in the first half, levelling through Fashion Sakala after the break and coming closest to grabbing a winner in the closing stages.
“We needed a win to close the gap to three points,” said van Bronckhorst. “We didn’t, we drew but I think we did everything. I couldn’t have asked for more from my players, what they have given today, especially in the second half.
“They pushed really hard to come back into the game, which we did, and get good opportunities to win the game in the final 10 or 12 minutes. We did everything we could to win this game but in the end we are two points short.
“Did I feel the momentum was with us? Definitely. In the second half we saw after 60-65 minutes we were getting stronger and stronger. I think we did really well in those moments.
”We created great chances, we hit the post. Fashion had one against one against [Joe]
Hart. What more can you ask for? The only thing is we didn’t score the big chances we had.
“Of course [we will keep goingintheleague].butithink onlyawintodaywouldgiveus a chance to close the gap even more. It’s still six points with the goal difference in favour of Celtic so it will be more difficult after today.”
Van Bronckhorst now turns his attentions to the second leg of the Europa League semi-final against RB Leipzig at Ibrox on Thursday when Rangers will attempt to overturn a 1-0 deficit.
"We need to make sure we have the same intentions and the same character we showed today because we will need that on Thursday,” he said.
Postecoglou would not concede that the draw against their city rivals had effectively made Celtic champions.
The Australian, whose side are 29 games unbeaten in the Premiership, is looking to finish the season with a flourish.
He said: "I don't know about unassailable but we are in a strong position.
"We have three games to go, two of them at home. We have been so strong at home all year, including today, we didn't lose.
"From our perspective it gives us a great opportunity to take advantage of the position we are in. The thing with us, we don't want to sort of just get there, we want to finish strong and we have three games to do that.
"The boys are not jubilant. They understand that they had to work hard today to get something out of it.
"We will keep improving as a football team but the character they are showing at the moment, that's priceless.
"I think they are a determined lot and they are determined to finish the season strongly."