RANGERS intend to win the rest of their Premiership games this season and wrestle the title away from Celtic, says Fabio Cardoso.
Friday night brought a comprehensive 3-0 victory away to St Johnstone in what was only their second clean sheet of the league campaign. It comes fresh off the back of a 4-1 thrashing of Hamilton Academical prior to the international break.
Rangers centre-half Cardoso has been impressed by his new surroundings but more importantly the unit which is now showing signs of finding its feet under Pedro Caixinha. And while most outside of Ibrox would still expect domestically unbeaten Celtic to be out of reach even of an improved Rangers, the Portuguese defender has other ideas.
“We know if we win all our games until the end that we are going to be champions and we are going to try to do that,” the 23-year-old said. “We are going to try to improve every day and win all the games we have as a team like on Friday.
“Of course we believe. If we don’t believe it’s better for you not to play. We’re going to do what we need to do every day to win every game. We know we’re on the right track and we’ll keep winning. We’ll show the people we are here to win and make a great season.”
At McDiarmid Park on Friday Rangers did something they hadn’t managed all season – win and keep a clean sheet. It is no coincidence this feat coincided with the return of Portuguese internationalist Bruno Alves to the line-up to sit alongside his fellow countryman.
It meant Scottish centre-half Ross McCrorie was forced on to the bench after a promising handful of appearances that has given heart to his defensive partner Cardoso. However, the former Vitoria Setubal man admits it is a dream come true to stand beside the 35-year-old Alves.
“I already talked about Ross before. He’s an amazing player,” said Cardoso. “He’s very good with and without the ball and for me is the future of the Scotland national team. But yes Bruno brings experience to the team. It’s different because he is 15 or 16 years older than Ross and 14 older than me. It’s important to have a player like Bruno to make you better together.
“He is always talking to me, even when the game is on. He’s always talking and calling me when I do something wrong and telling me what to do best.
“He brings me to the game and makes me stay focused. It’s important to look at how Bruno plays as a centre-back because he’s one of the best centre-halves in the world.”
The two wins on the spin now leaves Rangers perfectly placed to focus on next weekend’s Betfred Cup semi-final with Motherwell, and Cardoso added: “It’s a first time for me as a senior player. Now it’s time to rest for a couple of days and then go back to work and give our best. We go to the semi-final to win and reach the final.”
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