Michael Beale has implored his Rangers players to grab the chance of glory with a Scottish Cup semi-final win over Celtic at Hampden Park on Sunday.
With the Hoops 13 points clear of their Old Firm rivals at the top of the cinch Premiership, and with the ViaPlay Cup already in the trophy room after beating the Gers in the final, the Light Blues have only one chance left to win silverware this season.
To do so, they will have to beat Celtic for the first time in six games, indeed, since they ousted Ange Postecoglou’s side out of the Scottish Cup at the same stage last season before going on to beat Hearts in the final.
Gers boss Beale said of his players: “I don’t think they have to prove anything to me, maybe to themselves. It’s a big opportunity as a player.
“We’re at a club where there’s an opportunity to win.
“And in your career as a player, whatever age you are, there’s only a certain amount of years that you have an opportunity to win, and depending on whether you’re the youngest player, the oldest player in the squad, you’ve got more, you’ve got less.
“I think this weekend’s a big opportunity for our team to win a semi-final and take us to the final.
“After that, you’d have to go and perform again there as well.
“They don’t have to prove anything to me, maybe themselves and maybe to the fans. That will to win, that’s what they signed up for, coming here.
“This season we’re going to finish second in the league, we’re runners-up in one competition, we want to go and win the cup, that’s clear.
I'm super-positive about the future— Michael Beale
“It will be bitterly disappointing if we don’t but we have to keep moving forward.”
As the season approaches its end, the former QPR boss, who took over from Giovanni van Bronckhorst last November, is “super-positive” about the future.
He said: “We’ve won a lot of football games. I think in 23 games we’ve won 19 and until a couple of weeks ago their record looked strong.
“We’ve had a couple of defeats that have been hard to take the last couple of weeks.
“I think progress has been made in terms of we’re much clearer now in the decisions that we need to make this summer.
“Those decisions have obviously clearly been on-going in the background. We know where we need to recruit and the areas we need to improve.
“Obviously, this will be the fourth game (with him in charge) against the team that’s in front of you and you have a good idea of what you need, maybe to overcome them.
“I think progress has been made, there’s a lot of harmony behind the scenes.
“There’s obviously been change within the club structurally as well and that’s ongoing but I’m super-positive about the future.”
