Steven Gerrard arrived to the post-match press conference in buoyant mood.
His team were convincing winners in the final Old Firm clash of the season.
Five times this term Rangers have met Celtic and what an outcome – won four, drawn one.
Rangers completed an unbeaten Old Firm ‘season’ for the first time since 1999/00 – another fine feat for Gerrard.
Fielding a range of questions from the press on the win, he stressed how much pride he has in his side and how they have excelled in the Premiership this season.
VitalRangers asked the Gers boss what impressed him most about the performance of today – just on the merits of this encounter, in isolation.
Gerrard was clear in his assessment of the impressive 4-1 victory:
“We worked on this gameplan for three days.”
“That’s not a long time in football, but we changed how we went about it – not much but in certain ways.”
“In key areas, we had to get it right and certain individuals had to go and carry out their roles.”
“What I’m taking about is that we went with two very high nines – we played with one number 10 behind that.”
“That’s bold and ambitious – if you don’t get it right..”
“I think that’s what has impressed me over the course of the 90 minutes.”
“We really stayed with it – we started well, started strong but even when we got a bump in terms of the equaliser we still believed, we still carried out the game plan, what was asked of them.”
“That’s why it feels extra special because the day has gone exactly as we planned for, over the three days.”
“But, once you give them that game plan, the players have to deliver and they’ve gone and done it emphatically.”
Setback
Borna Barisic limped off in the second half with what appeared to be a thigh problem, after he fell to the ground unchallenged.
The Ibrox gaffer provided an early response on the setback for the Croatian international:
“It’s a quad issue – there’s certainly some tightness there.”
“He seems a bit uncomfortble at the moment so we’ll scan that over the coming days.”
“We’ve 10 days until the next game now, so hopefully that helps – but look, well provide more news as we get it.”
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I asked Steven Gerrard on what pleased him most about today's emphatic victory and the early prognosis for Borna Barisic@vitalrangers @snackmediahttps://t.co/QtS1p64H5X
— Graeme Hanna (@graeme818) May 2, 2021