'I hate to think' - McInnes Had Doubts Regarding Rangers Forward's Fitness

Rangers splendidly answered their critics as they outperformed Celtic at Ibrox on Sunday to advance to the semi-finals of the Scottish League Cup.

Dan Neil's brace and Kevin Kelsy's brilliant finish sealed the Old Firm win for the Gers to make it five wins in a row in all competitions for the home side.

Adding to that, the Light Blues have now also kept a clean sheet in three back-to-back games following their 1-0 victories over Motherwell and St Mirren, respectively.

The Teddy Bears' defensive lineup was up to the task on all three occasions, but one player who played a pivotal role for the Gers recently is Ryan Naderi, without a doubt.

Naderi scored the Gers' only goal against the Steelmen earlier this month and then went on to provide the assist to Bojan Miovski's late winner against the Saints the following game.

The 23-year-old once again turned provider against the Celts yesterday, as his flicked header landed brilliantly for summer arrival Kelsy to pounce on and double the Gers' lead on the day.

However, according to manager Derek McInnes, Naderi was a doubt for the Old Firm clash until Sunday morning.

McInnes explained the centre-forward's issue (h/t Rangers Review), saying, "He’s(Naderi) a boy that we had a wee bit of a fitness doubt yesterday. He had a dead leg thing going on, and I asked him yesterday how he felt, and he said it felt better than it did the day before.

"But he still felt that maybe it wasn’t going to be good enough to function properly. We spoke on Saturday night and again on Sunday morning, and he felt more good to go.

"I hate to think there would be a Rangers player that didn’t play in an Old Firm game because of a dead leg."

The manager also praised the forward's performance, saying, "Ryan Naderi had as good a game as he’s had in a Rangers shirt, certainly from my time. It was a strong performance, but it had to be."

A lot of question marks were being raised before the Gers' dominating win against the Hoops at Ibrox.

As it seems, McInnes and his men have answered them in the best way possible, but the Light Blues will have no room for complacency as they take on their cross-town rivals once again next Sunday at Celtic Park without the backing of their supporters.

However, the Light Blues will have more time to recover and prepare for that game than their opponents, as the Celts will face Ferencvaros in the Europa League on Thursday following the Old Firm defeat.