Rangers star Fashion Sakala has insisted the Gers would have retained the Scottish Premiership title last season had Aston Villa not ousted Steven Gerrard from Ibrox.
Gerrard led Rangers to a historic 55th league championship in 2020/21, denying Old Firm rivals Celtic a successful tenth crown in the process. The Light Blues were well placed to retain their title the following season when Gerrard was lured back into the Premier League. While replacement Giovanni van Bronckhorst led Rangers to the Europa League final, Celtic edged past them in the league and regained the title.
Speaking ahead of Sunday’s Scottish League Cup final between the Old Firm duo, Sakala claimed things would have been very different if Gerrard had stayed in Glasgow.
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“A year ago we won the league unbeaten, that shows we are better than them (Celtic),” the Zambian said, Football Scotland reported. “Obviously last season we were four points up before Gerrard left, so the change in coach contributed a lot to us struggling.
“But if Gerrard was still here I think we would have won the league last season. And this season you can see that we fight again. It’s the same thing that happened last season.
“But the way we’re playing now is exactly the same as how we played when Gerrard was here. Yes, we are nine points behind but we will continue fighting to put pressure on them and recover”.
Gerrard may also wish he had stayed where he was, having spent less than a year in charge of Villa before being sacked in October and replaced by Unai Emery.
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