Nicolas Raskin batted away individual plaudits as he lauded the Rangers unit after their battling draw with Tottenham.
The Belgian put in one of his best performances in a light blue jersey as he led the midfield against the Premier League heavyweights. The 23-year-old shrugged off the attentions of the mega-money engine room that boasted the likes of James Maddison and Yves Bissouma as he played a key role in the thrilling performance alongside Mohamed Diomonde.
But despite his key role in the crucial Europa League point, Raskin was keen to dish out praise on the entire starting line-up for the impressive showing: “We won everything as a team. The fans were amazing. We would have loved to win. I think if we were a little bit better with the last pass in the second half we could have scored the second one but we have been good.
“I think the midfield was really good. I think Dio (Diomande) played a great game to recover the ball. He had to be on time and make the good pass. Even when he is a bit late we can’t do it alone. It was a really good performance from the team and we are really happy.
“I think it’s about the good performance of the team (rather than just the midfield). To be fair, we just need to repeat the kind of performance we have been doing. We need to play the same way we have been playing. We need to go in and just win. It’s not about the midfield or the defence – it’s about the whole team. We have to go there with the fans and go for the win.”
Dejan Kulusevski came off the bench to rescue Ange Postecoglou’s side and deny Philippe Clement’s the impressive scalp of the North London giants. But Raskin refused to let the sucker punch dampen the mood in the camp after the full-time whistle – putting it down to some of the elite players in the Spurs ranks: “It’s the quality of the top teams. That’s what happens when they have one chance they score. We need to learn about that and just focus.”
He did give a nod to goalscorer Hamza Igamane who continued his fine form in the Rangers’ frontline before limping off with an injury to be replaced by Cyriel Dessers in the second period. The 21-year-old has been a revelation up to for Gers in recent weeks – but Raskin isn’t letting his Ibrox pal rest of his laurels.
He challenged him to continue finding the net against Celtic in the Premier Sports Cup final on Sunday – after knocking the ball beyond Fraser Forster in Europe took his scoring streak to three games.
“Yeah, he is flying right now. But it’s about the next game and scoring in the next game. We want to push him. He’s a top guy, very humble. And I love to see him do well.”
And Raskin undertook a fearless view of the Hampden blockbuster. Since the draw with Dundee United towards the end of November when boss Clement faced mounting pressure over his position, the Belgian has seen his side majorly raise their performance levels.
And the Belgian U21 international reckons that a repeat of the showing against Spurs would be enough to see off Brendan Rodgers’ side and claim silverware: “I think it’s about the good performance of the team.
“To be fair, we just need to repeat the kind of performance we have been doing. We need to play the same way we have been playing.
“We need to go in and just win. It’s not about the midfield or the defence – it’s about the whole team. We have to go there with the fans and go for the win.”
The last time the Glasgow giants faced off in September the Hoops strolled to a 3-0 win at Celtic Park as they took a grip of the Scottish Premiership title race early doors. Since then, the Hoops have remained unscathed domestically and go in as favourites to lift the first piece of silverware on offer in Scotland this season.
But Raskin insists the mood in the camp is totally different than earlier in the campaign given the recent run of form as he looked to put the showing against Tottenham behind him, Raskin knows the pain of defeat at the national stadium all too well having started the Scottish Cup Old Firm defeat on the final day of last season.
The bullish star added: “Obviously the confidence is higher. I think we have been in good form the last couple of weeks and now Hamza is scoring goals and everybody is really good. We are looking forward to Sunday and it’s about the recovery when we go there.”