BlueMeanie
Well-Known Member
IT’S hard to imagine Neil Lennon supporting Rangers.
But when it comes to the Europa League, there won’t be anyone more desperate to see my old club reach the last 32 than the diehard Celtic boss.
Lennon’s already taken his team through to the knockout stages. With two group games still to play, they’ve already qualified after Thursday’s sensational win over Lazio.
But on the back of that victory in Rome, he’ll now be hoping Steven Gerrard can take his men into the next round too.
For one thing, Lennon won’t want Rangers playing fewer games in February when the fixture list could have a huge bearing on how things pan out domestically.
He’ll want Rangers to have the same obstacles in front of them at a crucial stage of the season.
On top of that, there’s the Uefa coefficient rankings where there is now a very real possibility Scotland could claim two Champions League spots.
That’s massive for the Old Firm pair given the money up for grabs.
The fact is, the two results on Thursday night were brilliant for Scottish football as they boosted our game on every level.
It would have been hard to even imagine this scenario a few months ago.
You have to hand it to Rangers and Celtic because, when it comes to Europe, no one else is pulling their weight, with Aberdeen and Kilmarnock knocked out in the qualifiers.
But the two wins over Porto and Lazio had everyone sitting up and taking notice for all the right reasons.
I watched both games and there was so much to enjoy about the performances.
Celtic left it late to get their first-ever win in Italy, but it was no more than they deserved having battled back into the game from being an early goal down.
At Ibrox, that man Alfredo Morelos produced again.
He’s now so important to Rangers that I don’t think they could sell him in January even if a bid of £50million came in.
Listen, that’s not going to happen, but you cannot underplay how vital he is to Gerrard’s team.
For me, if they want to have a proper go at stopping nine in a row — which they clearly do — they couldn’t sell him at any price.
Gerrard said as much last week after the Betfred Cup semi-final win over Hearts, so I would imagine he’s got guarantees Morelos won’t be sold.
Rangers’ accounts didn’t look too clever when the figures were announced a few days ago but, at the end of the day, success comes at a price.
You also have to applaud Morelos for the way he’s changed this season and lost that immature, petulant side of his game, which was making him miss big games.
He deserved all the criticism he got for that. He was a liability.
There was no doubt he was letting his manager and his team-mates down with his constant indiscipline. Gerrard was clearly getting sick and tired of it.
But he has channelled that aggression now.
You still see him having little strops from time to time, like when he was being taken off at Ross County, and I don’t think that will ever change. It’s just who he is.
He also plays with an aggression which probably comes from his upbringing in Colombia. It’s like he feels he has to fight for everything and I understand that.
But the difference is he doesn’t overstep the mark and Gers are getting the benefit.
In terms of his finishing and goals, no one can argue with how good he is. I admire his ability to find the net as a striker.
His goal the other night against Porto came from nothing, really. It was just an instinctive shot hit early to beat the keeper.
This may surprise people, but Morelos actually reminds me of a player I used to play with at Rangers, Daniel Cousin.
He wasn’t the most prolific goalscorer during his time with us, and it was maybe only a few months all told.
Ask Walter Smith or Ally McCoist about him and they’ll probably say he was a real frustration for them because he only tended to play well when he felt like it.
But when he was on his game, he was a player.
Big Dan was as strong as they come and knew how to finish. He’s definitely someone that Morelos reminds me of.
He was at Rangers to get a move to the English Premier League and he did what he set out to do by joining Hull City.
Morelos will have the same intentions, but he’ll need to wait until next summer at least because selling him in January is simply unthinkable from a Rangers point of view.
But when it comes to the Europa League, there won’t be anyone more desperate to see my old club reach the last 32 than the diehard Celtic boss.
Lennon’s already taken his team through to the knockout stages. With two group games still to play, they’ve already qualified after Thursday’s sensational win over Lazio.
But on the back of that victory in Rome, he’ll now be hoping Steven Gerrard can take his men into the next round too.
For one thing, Lennon won’t want Rangers playing fewer games in February when the fixture list could have a huge bearing on how things pan out domestically.
He’ll want Rangers to have the same obstacles in front of them at a crucial stage of the season.
On top of that, there’s the Uefa coefficient rankings where there is now a very real possibility Scotland could claim two Champions League spots.
That’s massive for the Old Firm pair given the money up for grabs.
The fact is, the two results on Thursday night were brilliant for Scottish football as they boosted our game on every level.
It would have been hard to even imagine this scenario a few months ago.
You have to hand it to Rangers and Celtic because, when it comes to Europe, no one else is pulling their weight, with Aberdeen and Kilmarnock knocked out in the qualifiers.
But the two wins over Porto and Lazio had everyone sitting up and taking notice for all the right reasons.
I watched both games and there was so much to enjoy about the performances.
Celtic left it late to get their first-ever win in Italy, but it was no more than they deserved having battled back into the game from being an early goal down.
At Ibrox, that man Alfredo Morelos produced again.
He’s now so important to Rangers that I don’t think they could sell him in January even if a bid of £50million came in.
Listen, that’s not going to happen, but you cannot underplay how vital he is to Gerrard’s team.
For me, if they want to have a proper go at stopping nine in a row — which they clearly do — they couldn’t sell him at any price.
Gerrard said as much last week after the Betfred Cup semi-final win over Hearts, so I would imagine he’s got guarantees Morelos won’t be sold.
Rangers’ accounts didn’t look too clever when the figures were announced a few days ago but, at the end of the day, success comes at a price.
You also have to applaud Morelos for the way he’s changed this season and lost that immature, petulant side of his game, which was making him miss big games.
He deserved all the criticism he got for that. He was a liability.
There was no doubt he was letting his manager and his team-mates down with his constant indiscipline. Gerrard was clearly getting sick and tired of it.
But he has channelled that aggression now.
You still see him having little strops from time to time, like when he was being taken off at Ross County, and I don’t think that will ever change. It’s just who he is.
He also plays with an aggression which probably comes from his upbringing in Colombia. It’s like he feels he has to fight for everything and I understand that.
But the difference is he doesn’t overstep the mark and Gers are getting the benefit.
In terms of his finishing and goals, no one can argue with how good he is. I admire his ability to find the net as a striker.
His goal the other night against Porto came from nothing, really. It was just an instinctive shot hit early to beat the keeper.
This may surprise people, but Morelos actually reminds me of a player I used to play with at Rangers, Daniel Cousin.
He wasn’t the most prolific goalscorer during his time with us, and it was maybe only a few months all told.
Ask Walter Smith or Ally McCoist about him and they’ll probably say he was a real frustration for them because he only tended to play well when he felt like it.
But when he was on his game, he was a player.
Big Dan was as strong as they come and knew how to finish. He’s definitely someone that Morelos reminds me of.
He was at Rangers to get a move to the English Premier League and he did what he set out to do by joining Hull City.
Morelos will have the same intentions, but he’ll need to wait until next summer at least because selling him in January is simply unthinkable from a Rangers point of view.