Antonio Colak admits he couldn't have pictured a better birthday after scoring the two goals that got Rangers back to winning ways.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst's men defeated Dundee United at Ibrox to claim what turned out to be a massive three points after Celtic's shock defeat to St Mirren in Paisley. That brings the gap between the title rivals back down to just two points going into the international break with Hearts away at Tynecastle next up for the Light Blues.
Rangers have played a lot of football recently with domestic league and cup matters coupled up with Champions League qualifying and the start of the group stages in a section that contains Liverpool, Ajax and Napoli. The two-week break will now offer the chance for the Ibrox men to refuel, rest up and refocus the minds ahead of a busy schedule of fixtures to come.
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Speaking about the result and his close bond with club and international team-mate Borna Barisic, Colak told Rangers TV: "It was a very nice birthday.
"I couldn't have dreamed for better, I scored two goals and we won, so I was really happy.
"I could then celebrate the day.
"For the first goal James won the ball in our own half and he made the game really fast, that's what we spoke about wanting to do before the game .
"He saw me and made the perfect pass. It was a good first touch and finish, it was the perfect birthday present.
"Myself and Borna speak a lot off the pitch and I was really happy with the assist. He's always searching for me in the box.
"Sometimes you need a bit of luck if the ball comes to me but it was the perfect ball for me.
"The goals came from both the left and right-backs, which is really nice for the team."
He added: "It's really important for us. We've had a lot of games recently with the Champions League qualification and in the league."
"You need to keep every game at the highest level to win each game and compete the best we can.
"But now we have time to refresh, relax and clear our minds a little bit, so we will have full energy when we come back.
"We need to work on the details to make our game better because we want to always be at the top.
"This is our motivation for the coming week."
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