Sasa Papac went the distance in his bid to get back in shape for last weekend’s legends kickabout at Ibrox after completing his first half-marathon. And the Rangers cult icon reckons it’s time his old side got back on the trophy treadmill too.
The 43-year-old joined up with an array of heroes from yesteryear for Sunday’s bounce game in front of 25,000 fans. Some of the waistlines on show were a little larger than when these retired stars were in their prime but Papac still looked like he could do a turn for Michael Beale’s Light Blues line-up.
The left-back has kept himself in decent nick since hanging up his boots following a six-year stint in Glasgow. So much so, he even managed to finish a gruelling 13-mile race just a week before his run-out with Jermain Defoe, Ronald de Boer, Lorenzo Amoruso and Co. Former Bosnia and Herzegovina international Papac said: “It was great to be back at Ibrox. To be part of this game was fantastic.
“I still get a buzz from them. When I got the call I started training to get fit because I have so much respect for this place and for the fans, so I wanted to be fit.
“The last three or four months I’ve done some hard training but it’s not easy at this age – I’m 43 now. But it’s OK.
“When you stop playing football, it’s not easy to stay fit. OK, I don’t have too many kilos but for running it’s not easy. Last week was the first time I tried a half-marathon – 21km.
“I did that but it was very hard. I’d never ran that distance because in training you maybe run 10, 12km maximum. It was the first time I’d ran a long distance.”
Rangers face having to make up some serious ground themselves if they are to salvage this season’s title race with nine games left. Papac has been keeping a close eye on his old side and knows the nine-point deficit on leaders Celtic will not be seen as acceptable by the Ibrox legions.
The ex-Austria Vienna defender can sympathise with the predicament facing Beale as he desperately tries to keep pace with Ange Postecoglou’s rampant league leaders. Signed by Paul le Guen in 2006, Papac admits he was initially ill-equipped for the challenge that had been set for him in Glasgow.
But after finding his feet, the great Gers survivor ended up becoming the only Le Guen signing to last more than 12 months with the club as he finally found a way to negotiate the Old Firm hurdles, going on to win three straight titles under the guidance of Walter Smith.
He just hopes Rangers’ new recruits such as Todd Cantwell and Nico Raskin can learn the lesson he did. Papac said: “In the beginning when I came into Rangers, I wasn’t ready for this level of football.
“But I started to learn very quickly how the mentality is and what the character you need here. You need to learn everything quickly. After three or four months I got that and was looking better in every game.
“That’s why I stayed here. But it depends on other players.
“From the first time Walter came in, I understood that was the big pressure on this club. For this club, it’s only good when you win the game and win the trophies. Second place is nothing here. This is good for every player to push you forward.
“You must give everything every day for the club. Every training session, every game, is important for every player.
“With what has happened to the club in the last 10 years, we missed so many trophies. But I hope in the future we can take some more. Do I still watch the team? Yes, of course. Every game I watch in my flat. My kids are also Rangers supporters, so all the time we watch the games on the television.
“It was a slow start this season. We can say that this is normal when I compare it with my time. We also started slowly after reaching the UEFA Cup Final. The next season we went out of the Champions League.
“Maybe the players were tired, not physically but mentally. Since there been a change of manager, Rangers have played well.
“They’ve missed out on trophies in the past couple of years. We need trophies. This is important for the club. We hope that changes.”
Now Papac hopes next month’s league and Scottish Cup derby double-header could be a turning point for Beale’s side.
Rangers head across the city a week tomorrow before the sides meet at Hampden for their semi-final on the final day in April. Papac, reflecting on the 2010-11 campaign, said: “You could compare it to the season we took the League Cup against Celtic when Nikica Jelavic scored in extra-time.
“Before this game, in the past three games with Celtic they were much better. We lost the games and lost our confidence. But we knew that in this game – a cup final – we could change every-thing. When we won this game it did change our season completely. In one game, you aren’t just playing for a trophy. You are playing to give the message to everybody we are there, we can handle Celtic.
“This is the same situation heading into the next Old Firm game. We must win this game. It’s important to show you can take one more step. You have to be strong on the pitch. This is a special game.
“You must show you are ready for the battle. When you do that, you can get the result.”
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