I’M A NOBODY
But Caixinha warns he can still kill off Celts’ Treble dream
RANGERS boss Pedro Caixinha last night claimed he is ‘no-one’ in comparison to Brendan Rodgers but declared himself ready to defeat the Celtic manager in the William Hill Scottish Cup semi-final.
Caixinha, 46, admits today’s derby represents the biggest game of his career and he has prepared his players to go the distance as they seek to salvage a trophy from an underwhelming season.
The Portuguese coach has been in charge for little over a month after switching from Qatari club Al-Gharafa to succeed Mark Warburton — and concedes his career, which saw him also manage Santos Laguna in Mexico, is somewhat less distinguished than that of his counterpart.
Rodgers, formerly an English Premier League manager with Swansea City and Liverpool, has guided Celtic to the League Cup and Premiership title this term but Caixinha believes he and his players can take advantage of the oneoff nature of a lunchtime tie at Hampden.
‘My respect is for Brendan,’ said Caixinha. ‘He is a great coach with a fantastic past. I’m no-one regarding to him and his position. I don’t want to compare the trophies that he won and I won before I arrived.
‘But this is going to be a different game. I respect a lot the Celtic team and Brendan but I want to win.
‘This is a moment and a game that’s different. If I tell you that we can beat Celtic for the league, the numbers show I am not being realistic, but this is an Old Firm game, a 90-minute match and a semi-final, so we can beat them.
‘I am preparing the team and they are getting more convinced as the days are passing until the match that we can do it.
‘I don’t care if it’s 90 minutes, 120 or penalties, we need to be ready and convinced we can do it.’
Celtic have prevailed in three of the four Old Firm matches contested this season, with the last ending in a 1-1 draw at Parkhead.
Caixinha was there to watch Graeme Murty close out his caretaker spell by celebrating Clint Hill’s late equaliser and admits the magnitude of the occasion eclipses anything he has faced before.
‘This is definitely the biggest,’ he conceded. ‘In Mexico, we had a lot of big games when we were champions, but this is going to be the biggest one for sure.’