Warburton is miles off, insists Erik

ERIK SVIATCHENKO has rejected Mark Warburton’s claim that Rangers have narrowed the gap on Celtic and has told the Ibrox boss to watch a re-run of the Betfred Cup semi-final. While admitting his side had more to learn after Moussa Dembele’s late strike condemned them to a 1-0 defeat, Warburton felt significant progress had been made from the previous month’s 5-1 Premiership rout. Speaking at Hampden on

THE satisfaction Erik Sviatchenko is currently deriving from being a Celtic player is increased by the fact he only has to face Moussa Dembele in training.

As a robust centre-half not afraid to get stuck in, Sviatchenko insists he relishes their regular tussles at Lennoxtown.

He recognises, however, that rival defenders truly have their work cut out trying to keep the young Frenchman under control.

Rangers almost thought they had achieved that feat on Sunday. For 87 minutes, the pairing of Clint Hill and Rob Kiernan policed Dembele to good effect. But the 20-year-old would not be denied his 14th goal of the season.

A low cross from Leigh Griffiths was met with the cutest of back-heel flicks that evaded both Kiernan and Ibrox goalkeeper Matt Gilks.

That clever, instinctive finish secured Celtic’s place in the Betfred Cup final, where they will now face Aberdeen on November 27.

It also made Sviatchenko (below) feel an awful lot better about his header that referee Craig Thomson had earlier ruled out controversially for an alleged foul on Hill.

‘It’s all right,’ said the Dane, who netted in last season’s Scottish Cup defeat to the Ibrox side.

‘We won the game. It would have been nice to have that on my CV, to have scored twice against Rangers.

‘But it doesn’t really matter now. I am just really happy that Moussa back-heeled that double nutmeg.

‘He has great potential and he is only 20 years old. For Moussa, it’s about keeping that high level every time, even though young players sometimes drop their performances.

‘He’s proven that he can maintain that high level.

‘For him, the team and everyone around Celtic, it’s good to have a striker like that. But we have players who are pushing on and guys on the bench who want to make a difference.

‘Griff came on and was really a game-changer against Rangers. It’s not just about one player. It’s about the entire team.

‘You saw Kolo (Toure) also going out and Jozo (Simunovic) coming in and doing well, so again it’s like people are filling small gaps. It’s a natural change.’

For now, though, Dembele is the man dominating the headlines.

Four goals against Rangers and two against Manchester City in little over a month tend to have that effect. The £500,000 compensation fee paid to Fulham looks ever more like a ludicrous steal.

‘I think it shows a high level from Celtic to have a high-level player like that, but also Moussa did well in how he was thinking about his next step,’ said Sviatchenko.

‘He maybe could have gone to a club down south in a better league, but he’s shown he wants to improve and be better. That’s the right thing to do here.

‘The expectation is much bigger here than at other clubs maybe. But he has the belief from the manager and all the club around him and that gives you confidence to evolve here.

‘In training, he’s a big guy and he’s tough. Sometimes, he can be a bit arrogant — but in a good way. ‘Suddenly, he’s just there. But I’m quite a physical guy, so we can have some good battles.’ The way Dembele and Griffiths combined after the latter came off the bench on Sunday will lead some supporters to ponder whether they can be more regularly partnered in the weeks ahead. It was put to Sviatchenko that having both coming at him might qualify as his worst nightmare. ‘It probably would be,’ he grinned. ‘But again, it’s up to the manager to see where the possibilities are. ‘It may be he would like to see that one day, but I’m just focusing on how well we are playing right now. ‘If we want to play with two or three (up front), it doesn’t really matter. ‘It’s really about who is prepared to do that extra bit of hard work.’

“Moussa can be arrogant — but in a good way”