Ianis Hagi knows the task at hand for Rangers as they take on Celtic at Ibrox this afternoon.
Trailing by 14 points in the Scottish Premiership standings, it’s imperative that Rangers don’t fall any further behind their fierce rivals at this stage of the season.
And midfielder Hagi, who’s back in the Light Blues starting XI after missing the draw with Motherwell last time out due to illness, is hopeful his side can begin to put a run together, starting today.
Speaking to Rangers TV ahead of kick-off, the Romanian playmaker said: “Hopefully we can start the New Year with a win. That’s what we want, and obviously we’ve got to put in a good performance for the fans.
“We haven’t been [prepared enough] the last couple of weeks with injuries and also people being sick, a few players including myself.
“There’s been a lot of changes in the first XI and we didn’t really have too much continuity. So hopefully, right now, most of us are back fit and hopefully the guys that are still injured are ready to come back as soon as possible.
“We want to go on a run because we obviously need a good run of results, and this is what we are focusing on right now.
"This game is always a different feel to any other game throughout the season. They can give you a big boost with a win in the Old Firm, we need that, so hopefully we can get that today and go on a good run as I said.
"We need to start the game really well, obviously playing at home helps a lot and when you have a good start you have a good feeling and then it's about continuing that throughout the 90 minutes.
"We will need everyone, players on the bench and the players that start, everyone needs to be on the front foot and at the end of the day hopefully we can get the win."
