FASHION SAKALA insists Rangers are a better team and better club than Celtic and will prove their Old Firm superiority with Hampden glory on Sunday.
The striker is poised to start the Viaplay Cup final as boss Michael Beale bids for his first silverware success since taking over from Giovanni van Bronckhorst in December.
Rangers are nine points adrift of Celtic in the Premiership title race but Sakala believes it is the Ibrox outfit that are the top team in the country ahead of an all-or-nothing derby showdown.
Sakala said: "Yes, when you play against Celtic it is a different game. You just want to hurt them! I don’t know what is the right word to use.
"We just want to see our fans happier than their fans. We just want to hurt them, to make them angry.
"It is more than a game. I don’t know what else to call it. But you are always thinking about being better than them. That’s the same attitude we are going with on Sunday.
"Yes we are better than them, so much better. But we are nine points behind! We will keep fighting anyway.
"I think we are such a better club. A far better club."
Sakala arrived at Ibrox the summer after Beale played his part in delivering a historic 55th Premiership title and the former coach is now back as manager aiming to reclaim the league flag next term.
Van Bronckhorst guided his side to the Europa League final and Scottish Cup before being sacked just 12 months into his reign and Rangers have been unable to recover in the Premiership.
And Sakala reckons Gerrard - alongside Beale and Gary McAllister - would never have allowed Celtic to clinch successive league crowns as Rangers now rebuild under their new boss.
Sakala said: "A year ago we won the league unbeaten so that shows we are better than them. Obviously last season we were four points on top before Gerrard left so the change in the coach contributed a lot for us to be struggling.
"But if Gerrard was still here I think we would have won the league last season. And this season you can see we struggled again.
"It is the same thing that happened last season. But the way we are playing now, it is exactly the same as we were playing when Gerrard was here. Yes, we are nine points behind but we will keep on fighting to put them under pressure and recover from that.
“Exactly [we have to show we are better by winning on Sunday]. And that is what we are going for.
"If we get that trophy it will prove that we are a better team than them. The game that we played at Ibrox the last time we played against them, in the beginning they looked better and then we turned everything around and were much the better team.
"We could have won the game and unfortunately we drew. But on Sunday if we get the trophy everyone will see that we are much better than them.”
