Ianis Hagi insists Rangers can still salvage their season as they look to make up for Premiership pain with cup success.
The Light Blues have all but given up hope of catching league leaders Celtic having fallen 13 points adrift. But Gers still have plenty to play for as they prepare to kick off their Scottish Cup campaign against Highland League minnows Fraserburgh.
They will host the Broch’s part-timers at Ibrox on Sunday before heading to Old Trafford for a glamour Europa League clash with Manchester United, where victory could see Philippe Clement’s side overtake the English giants in the league phase standings and boost chances of qualifying directly for the last 16. And Hagi insists that has to be the aim for his team.
The Romanian – who is not part of Gers’ Europa squad but could be available for the knock-out stages – said: “We want to win and find that consistency every three days of playing, performing for 90 minutes. Obviously, the cup is really important for us, and then in Europe we had a great season up until now, so hopefully the guys can get it over the line. And why not finish in the top eight moving forward? Then hopefully we could have a really good last six months or five months of the season.”
Gers have already taken some major scalps on the continent this season, beating Malmo and Nice away while drawing at home to Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham. And asked if he felt Europe still presented his side with a major opportunity this term, Hagi declared: “Oh, yeah, 100 per cent. I think we showed as a club the last five, six years that we can perform at a really high level European-wise.
“We got to a European final, a few quarter-finals, so we enjoy playing in the European games, and up until now we performed quite well against really tough teams. So as a group, as a collective, we’re definitely looking forward to those types of games.”