Michael Beale will possibly be having a word in the ear of Fashion Sakala after his attacker got a bit carried away during the pre final press conference.
There was a lot of ‘fighting talk’ from the Zambian who is clearly fired up and motivated, probably excited too, for the showpiece occasion on Sunday afternoon.
His words will have been received gladly in the Celtic dressing room but that is part of the challenge that Beale’s players will have to rise to, anyway.
Fashion Jnr definitely has the ‘battle fever on’ as was evidenced by what he had to say on Wednesday:
“Yes, when you play against Celtic it is a different game. You just want to hurt them! I don’t know what is the right word to use.”
“We just want to see our fans happier than their fans. We just want to hurt them, to make them angry.”
He continued with a defiant message when asked if he felt that Rangers are superior to their Old Firm rivals:
“Yes we are better than them, so much better but we are nine points behind! We will keep fighting anyway.”
“I think we are such a better club. A far better club.”
Perform
Ah, Fashion!
Actions speak louder than words and given what he has had to say for himself, Fashion Sakala has now added undue pressure to deliver.
Of course, there is already a considerable expectation of a performance from this Rangers team but it is the result that matters most, as we saw in the same fixture in 2019.
The man from Zambia has the qualities to hurt Celtic, he has done so before and can do it again only this time his own words have raised the stakes.