Sakala admits ‘I could have done better’ with other chances
Rangers striker Fashion Sakala believes he should have secured a victory for his team at Celtic Park which would have revived their Premiership title hopes.
The Zambian international scored for the first time against Celtic as he cancelled out Jota’s breakthough for the league leaders in yesterday’s Old Firm showdown but was unable to make the most of two subsequent openings, one saved by Joe Hart and the other striking the goalkeeper’s left-hand post.
The 1-1 draw leaves Rangers six points adrift of Celtic at the top of the table with just three rounds of fixtures remaining, leaving Sakala with mixed emotions.
“It was special, it was a very special goal and very important for the team,” he said.
“But I think I could have done better for the other chances I had. But I can say we tried our best.
“The most important thing for us was the three points, that’s what we were looking for. We didn’t come for a draw, the only thing we wanted was the win.”
Sakala’s frustration was echoed by Borna Barisic as the Croatian international leftback conceded that there is now an even greater onus on Rangers to mitigate the all but certain loss of their domestic title by beating RB Leipzig at
Ibrox on Thursday night to reach the Europa League final.
"Listen, this is now our biggest game of the season on Thursday,” said Barisic as Rangers look to overturn a 1-0 deficit from the first leg of the semi-final.
“We know what we need to do, we know how they play. We know how they played in Germany will be different at Ibrox.
“We can’t wait for that game to show energy, to show desire, to try to qualify for the final.
"We needed the three points today. This was a chance to connect with them (Celtic) in the league table.
“But we didn’t do that and we’re disappointed. Everyone put in a huge effort in the second half, we gave everything but at the end 1-1 was not enough.
“It’s on us now to perform on Thursday. The fans will be behind us like always. I expect a very, very good atmosphere and we’ll see what happens. But we’ll give everything to win the game.”