PIERRE van Hooijdonk has questioned whether Rangers can cope with the intense demands of being genuine Scottish title contenders for the first time in eight years and pip his former club Celtic this season.
Steven Gerrard’s side drew level on points with Brendan Rodgers’ team in the Ladbrokes Premiership table with their 1-0 win over their city rivals at Ibrox in the final game before the winter shutdown last month.
The victory has given fans of the Govan club hope they can win the league even though the double treble winners are still ahead on goal difference and have a game in hand against St Johnstone at home still to play.
But Van Hooijdonk, the Dutch striker who was unable to help the Parkhead club win the title during his two seasons in Glasgow back in the 1990s, is interested to see how Rangers handle being in contention.
“When you are really close, there is more pressure,” he said. “When I first arrived at Celtic, Rangers had almost won the league already. You could feel that our team would never be able to stop Rangers. There was still pressure, but it wasn’t realistic that we would win the league.
“But the year after, it was realistic and the pressure comes when you are closer and then lose one game. You feel like a real challenger and that is how Rangers will feel just now. They have never really had that pressure before when they can go and stop Celtic.
“Realistically, this is the first time when they have been level on points at this stage of the season. There is also pressure because the fans start to demand that title.”
Speaking at Premier Sports event at Hampden ahead of the William Hill Scottish Cup fourth round, Van Hooijdonk added: “I was worried when Celtic dropped so many points in the early stage of the season because they are usually many points ahead in December.
“Rangers have also dropped some points, but they are right up there so Celtic have a challenger and that is something different and must be handled. The Rangers players must deal with the pressure of being realistic challengers. Some players live with it and others go into their shell.
“Rangers have a lot of confidence after the Old Firm win and the belief that they can do it this year. If they’d played Celtic off the park and drawn they would still be close but thinking to themselves ‘There’s now way it’s going to happen this season’.
“But now they know it can happen and at least Celtic’s eyes have been opened, if they weren’t already, after that Old Firm game. They need to do something or it could go wrong.”
Meanwhile, Van Hooijdonk has predicted that Alfredo Morelos’s failure to score for Rangers against Celtic will prey on the mind of the temperamental Colombian striker in the second half of the season.
“Morelos has scored a lot of goals and the only thing missing is an Old Firm strike,” he said. “That will definitely be in his head because South American strikers are selfish and just think ‘goals, goals, goals’.
“He’s a handful and a bit crazy but he’s scored a lot of goals and he’s terrible to play against - one of these guys who would hate VAR to come in!
“He’s a good player but he’s missed big chances - and not just 50-50 ones - against Celtic. He’ll feel the need to score against them. If he never had a chance then he could always hold his hands up, but he has and it’s unusual he hasn’t taken any.”
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